Sports
Bob Probert
1965–2010 · ice hockey forward, enforcer
One of the most feared and beloved enforcers in NHL history, a Red Wing from 1985 to 1994 whose talent, toughness and public struggles made him a legendary and tragic Detroit sports figure.
- Born
Windsor, Ontario- Died
Windsor, Ontario
aged 45- Birth name
- Robert Alan Probert
- Detroit years
- 1985–1994
- Field
- Sports
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Probert grew up just across the river in Windsor, Ontario, and the Red Wings drafted him in 1983 in the same class as Steve Yzerman. He became far more than a fighter: in 1987–88 he scored 62 points while racking up 398 penalty minutes, the sixth-highest single-season total in NHL history, and made his only NHL All-Star Game appearance. His career was shadowed by addiction; in March 1989 he was arrested crossing the Detroit–Windsor Tunnel with cocaine and served time in federal prison, and a 1994 motorcycle crash while intoxicated led the Red Wings to trade him to Chicago that July. Despite his struggles, Detroit fans never turned on him, and he remained closely tied to the city and the border community he came from. He retired in 2002 fourth all-time in NHL penalty minutes and died of a heart attack in 2010 while boating on Lake St. Clair; a posthumous study found he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy. In 2017, fans scattered some of his ashes in the penalty box during Joe Louis Arena's final Red Wings game.
Highlights
- Played for the Red Wings from 1985 to 1994
- 398 penalty minutes in 1987–88, sixth-most in a single NHL season
- Only NHL All-Star Game appearance, 1988
- Retired fourth all-time in NHL penalty minutes (3,300)
- Ashes scattered in the penalty box at Joe Louis Arena's final game, 2017
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Played here · 1985–1994, 2017 (memorial)
Joe Louis Arena
Demolished · 1979–2017
His home rink as a player, and where fans scattered part of his ashes in the penalty box at the arena's final Red Wings game in 2017.