Before his sports journalism career, Gave worked as a Russian linguist for the National Security Agency for six years. He then spent 15 years covering hockey for the Detroit Free Press. His two careers put him in a unique position when Detroit Red Wings executive vice-president Jim Lites contacted him in July 1989, asking for his help in passing a secret message to two Soviet hockey players recently drafted by the Wings: Sergei Fedorov and Vladimir Konstantinov. Soviet players at the time were not allowed to leave their country to play in the NHL, and Gave was to be a go-between for the Wings at an exhibition game in Helsinki, letting the players know that the Wings wanted them to defect. This began a process that would eventually culminate in the Red Wings forming the Russian Five line.
