It's unlikely many motorists zipping through Santa Clara County this summer paid much heed to the prison work crews at the side of the highway, let alone realized there was an NHL player toiling under the sizzling California sun.
But there, picking up garbage, cutting grass and pulling weeds, alongside men charged with everything from domestic violence to drug offences, was the Maple Leafs' Mark Bell, head down, sweating, wondering how long it would be till his next break, remembering what he'd done to put himself in this predicament.
"I was just like anybody else who made a mistake. I was treated like everybody else," Bell said yesterday. "I was afforded a lot of humility. I think I'm a better person for it."
A person, even one with a glamorous job and a $2.1 million (U.S.) salary on the horizon, has a lot of time for introspection while working as, Bell said with a chuckle, "a professional landscaper." That, of course, is the point of these work details. Bell had some 440 hours - eight hours a day, five days a week for 11 weeks - of self-discovery this summer as he served his sentence for a drunk driving charge.
Bell said he thought a lot about how good he had it, how lucky he was to better understand the importance of his family and friends, how he could try to be a role model for others and how excited he was for the upcoming hockey season.
Not once did he think about having another drink.
The winger says he has been dry since the September night two years ago when, driving with twice the legal amount of alcohol in his system, he smashed into the back of a pickup truck at a stop sign in the San Jose foothills. Bell was travelling at an estimated 100 kilometres an hour. The impact caused the driver of the truck multiple head, back and leg injuries.
In a California court, Bell pleaded no contest to charges of driving under the influence and hit-and-run. He was sentenced to six months in jail but that was commuted to participation in a work program.
On Monday, his work stint over, the 28-year-old Bell again stood before a judge in California and learned that he had paid his debt to society. He will have one more assessment hearing in the future but if he keeps out of trouble, as far as the criminal system is concerned, his sentence has been completed.
"That was a good day, let me tell you ... to finally put a close to it," he said.
Bell also said a civil lawsuit launched by the driver of the truck has been settled out of court.
If the accident in California was an epiphany for Bell to change his life, the work he did his summer simply reinforced that decision.
"I don't consider myself an alcoholic and I never will consider myself an alcoholic. But I got in trouble because of alcohol and, to me, that's a problem. I had to change things in my life so I changed them," he said.
"I was ashamed of what I did when it first happened. And embarrassed, all the emotions that came along with it. But you know what? It happened. I made a mistake. At the same time, I've been through a lot and I've overcome a lot. I'm actually very proud of myself for what I've overcome."
Bell said he hopes he can be a role model for others trying to bounce back from serious errors in judgment in their lives. That is why, he said, he willingly shares his story.
It is also why tonight he will again be in the small town of St. Marys, west of Kitchener, hosting the celebrity charity hockey game that carries his name. A native of nearby St. Pauls, Bell played minor hockey in St. Marys until he was 14 and money raised at his annual game at the new Pyramid Recreation Centre goes toward maintaining the complex.
And, unlike in California, Bell will be easily recognized in a town where he has remained a local hero despite his legal trouble. Though, Bell recalls of his summer, there was the odd work crew member who figured out who he was.
"No one really bothered me even if they did know who I was. They'd just ask what it was like to play in the NHL, that's about it," he said. "I met some people that did the same thing I did. They just messed up. Others, you just steered clear of."
Bell stayed at a friend's house and checked in for work each morning. He was allowed to wear his own clothes - this wasn't a chain gang of hard-core felons - but he did have to wear a prison-issue vest.
"You just put your ego aside, put your head down and did the work."
