Brett Favre

Brett Lorenzo Favre (born October 10, 1969) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers.

Favre began his freshman year as the seventh-string quarterback and took over the starting position in the second half of the third game of the year against Tulane on September 19, 1987.

Favre, despite suffering a hangover from the night before and vomiting during warm-ups, led the Golden Eagles to a come-from-behind victory with two touchdown passes.

Favre started ten games during his freshman year and won six of them.

In his junior season, Favre led the Golden Eagles to an upset of #6 Florida State on September 2, 1989.

Favre capped a six-and-a-half-minute drive with the game-winning touchdown pass with 23 seconds remaining.

On July 14, 1990, before the start of Favre's senior year at Southern Miss, he was involved in a nearly fatal car accident.

When going around a bend a few tenths of a mile from his parents' house, Favre lost control of his car, which flipped three times and came to rest against a tree.

It was only after one of his brothers smashed a car window with a golf club that Favre could be evacuated and rushed to the hospital.

In the ambulance, his mother was sitting with him.

"All I kept asking [her] was 'Will I be able to play football again?'" Favre recalled later.

Doctors would later remove 30 inches (76 cm) of Favre's small intestine.

Eight weeks after this incident, on September 8, Favre led Southern Miss to a comeback victory over Alabama.

Favre played college football at the University of Southern Mississippi and was selected in the second round of the 1991 NFL draft by the Atlanta Falcons, where he spent one season as a backup.

Favre had 321 consecutive starts from 1992 to 2010, including 297 regular season games, the most in league history.

He was also the first NFL quarterback to obtain 70,000 yards, 10,000 passes, 6,000 completions, 500 touchdowns, and victories over all 32 teams.

Traded to the Packers, he became their starter early in the 1992 season and revitalized a franchise that had been in a period of decline since the late 1960s.

During his 16 seasons with Green Bay, he led the team to 11 playoff appearances, seven division titles, four NFC Championship Games, two consecutive Super Bowl appearances, and one championship title in Super Bowl XXXI, the team's first in nearly three decades.

From 1995 to 1997, he was named Most Valuable Player three times, the most the award was consecutively received.

Favre also received 11 Pro Bowl and three first-team All-Pro selections.

Favre was traded in 2008 to the New York Jets, where he played one year, and spent his final two seasons with the Minnesota Vikings.

His 2009 campaign for the Vikings saw him guide them to a division title and NFC Championship Game appearance, while having one of his strongest statistical seasons.

At the time of his retirement, Favre was the NFL leader in passing yards, passing touchdowns, and quarterback wins, and holds the record for interceptions.

He was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016.

In 2022, Favre began to face controversy for the Mississippi welfare funds scandal after investigations determined $8 million intended for welfare programs went to Favre or causes he championed.

Favre has denied the allegations and filed a defamation lawsuit against the State Auditor of Mississippi and two media personalities over their coverage of him.

Brett Favre was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, the son of Bonita Ann (née French) and Irvin Ernest Favre, and raised in the small town of Kiln.

Both of his parents were schoolteachers in the Hancock County School District.

He is of part French ancestry.

One of his ancestors is Simon Favre, a Louisiana Creole and an influential figure in Spanish West Florida in the late 18th and early 19th centuries; Brett descends from Simon's Choctaw Native American mistress, Pistikiokonay, and thus his grandfather was affiliated with the Choctaw.

Brett was the second of four children and attended Hancock North Central High School, where he played baseball and football.

Favre started for the Hancock North Central baseball team as an eighth-grader and earned five varsity letters.

He played quarterback, lineman, strong safety, placekicker, and punter in a primarily option, run-oriented offense coached by his father, Irvin Favre, who was the head coach of the Hawks football team.

Irvin Favre said he knew his son had a great arm but also knew that the school had good running backs.

As a result, in the three years Brett was on the team, his father ran the wishbone, a run-oriented offense.

Favre rarely threw more than five passes in a game.

Southern Mississippi assistant coach Mark McHale, who was scouting new football recruits for the school, watched Favre play during a Hancock North Central football game after receiving recommendation from many nearby coaches.

McHale, observing Favre mostly hand the ball off in running plays in the two games he watched, was set on leaving when he suddenly saw Favre throw the ball in such a captivating way that he later described it by saying the ball "had smoke and flames coming off it".

After high school, Southern Mississippi offered Favre a football scholarship at the urging of assistant coach McHale, which was the only one he received.

Southern Miss wanted him to play defensive back, but Favre wanted to play quarterback instead.