Background

Ethnicity: Brett Favre is partially of French ancestry. One of his ancestors, Simon Favre, was a Creole, who had Native American mistress, Pistikiokonay. Besides, Brett has German, Swiss and Belgian roots.

Brett Lorenzo Favre was born on October 10, 1969 in Gulfport, Mississippi, United States. He grew up in Kiln. His aunt, grandmothers, and other relatives lived nearby. His father, Irvin Favre, was a driver's education and physical education teacher as well as a baseball and football coach. His mother, Bonita French, was a special education teacher. Favre has two brothers and a sister.

Education

Favre and his three siblings grew up immersed in sports. He attended Hancock North Central High School from 1983 to 1987, and his father coached him in baseball and football. In football he played quarterback, strong safety, place kicker, and punter. In baseball he was a pitcher and led the team in batting every year. Because Irvin Favre preferred a running game, Brett Favre ended his high school football career with just 800 passing yards.

When Favre arrived at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) in 1987, he was a seventh-string quarterback, but he worked his way up to starting quarterback in his freshman year. In his sophomore year (1988) Favre led his team to a 10-2 record, and they won the Independence Bowl, 38-18, over the University of Texas-El Paso (UTEP). In Favre's junior year (1989) the football team went 5-6. In July 1990 a car accident threatened to end Favre's football career. His injuries included a fractured vertebra, a lacerated liver, and a bruised abdomen, and doctors removed thirty inches of his intestine. Favre made a miraculous recovery and led his team to an 8-2 record in his senior year (1990), but they lost to North Carolina State, 31-27, in the All American Bowl. Nevertheless Favre was the game's Most Valuable Player (MVP). He finished his career at USM with school records for yards (8,193), pass attempts (1,234), completions (656), completion percentage (53 percent), and touchdowns (55). Favre's major was special education. Some sources claim, that he did receive his degree, while others state, that he didn't.

Career

The Atlanta Falcons selected Favre in the second round of the 1991 draft. In the 1991 season his total offense was five passes, and two were interceptions. Before the 1992 season he was traded to the Green Bay Packers. Favre replaced an injured Don Majikowski in the third game of the 1992 season, and he never relinquished the starting quarterback position. The Packers finished 9-7, and Favre went to the Pro Bowl. In 1993 Green Bay went 9-7 and became the first Packers team to make the playoffs in a nonstrike year since 1972. They beat Detroit 28-24 but lost to Dallas 27-17. Favre also played in the 1993 Pro Bowl. Although Favre had made great strides in his first two seasons at Green Bay, he was an inconsistent player. He threw thirty-seven touchdown passes, but he also threw thirty-nine interceptions.

In 1994 the Packers finished 9-7 and again made the playoffs. In a repeat of the 1993 season finale, they beat Detroit 16-12 but lost to Dallas. The year 1995 was a milestone for the team. Favre finished the season with a best in the National Football League (NFL) with 4,413 passing yards, he became the first player in team history to post 3,000 yards in 4 individual seasons, and he led the National Football Conference (NFC) with a 99.5 passing rating. He started in the Pro Bowl and won his first NFL MVP award. The Packers went 11-5 and won the NFC Central Division title. In the playoffs they beat Atlanta 37-20 and San Francisco 27-17, but again they lost to Dallas 38-27.

The 1996 Packers went 13-3 in the regular season, won their division, and beat San Francisco 35-14 and Carolina 30-13 in the playoffs. Super Bowl XXXI was in New Orleans, where the Packers faced the New England Patriots. On the Packers' second play Favre audibled a risky play. He connected with the receiver Andre Rison on a twenty-yard pass that Rison ran in for the touchdown. The Packers went on to win the Super Bowl 35-21. Favre started in the Pro Bowl and won his second regular season MVP award.

Brett returned to the Super Bowl the following year, but the Packers lost to John Elway's Denver Broncos in the waning minutes of the game. The Packers were less successful in the years following their two Super Bowl runs, but Favre continued to be productive. He led the league in pass completions in 1998 and 2005, and he had the most passing yards and touchdown passes in 1998 and 2003, respectively. He finished in the top 10 in completions, passing yards, and touchdown passes in every season between 1992 and 2007. In addition to these single-season accomplishments, Favre reached unprecedented individual statistical milestones over the course of his career. In the 2007 season he broke Elway's record of 148 career wins as a starting quarterback and Dan Marino's all-time records of 420 touchdown passes and 61,371 passing yards as well as George Blanda's career interception record of 277. Favre announced his retirement from professional football at the end of the 2007 NFL season.

In July 2008 Favre let it be known that he wanted to return to the NFL, and he was reinstated by the league the following month. However, his strained relationship with Packers management - as well as the team's commitment to a new starting quarterback - led the Packers to trade him to the New York Jets before the start of the 2008 NFL season. While he was named to his 10th career Pro Bowl in 2008, Favre's one season with the Jets was nevertheless a disappointment. Not only did he lead the league in interceptions and finish the year ranked 21st in passer rating, but, after an 8-3 start, the Jets won a total of only nine games and missed the play-offs. Citing diminished playing skills and an injured biceps, Favre retired once more in February 2009. His previous indecision led many to speculate that he would end his second retirement as the NFL season neared, and, just weeks after publicly stating that he would not be returning, in August 2009 Favre signed to play with the Minnesota Vikings.

Favre had one of his best seasons in 2009: he set career highs in completion percentage and passer rating and threw only seven interceptions. He guided the Vikings to a 12-4 record and a berth in the NFC championship game. However, his remarkable season ended on a sour note, as he threw a last-minute interception with the Vikings in range of a game-winning field goal attempt, which allowed the New Orleans Saints to win the NFC championship in overtime. A significant shoulder injury forced Favre to miss the 13th game of the 2010 season, ending his streak of 297 consecutive regular-season games started - a record for durability at his position - and he retired a third time at season's end. Favre finished his career with 508 touchdown passes and 71,838 passing yards, NFL records that were subsequently broken by Peyton Manning.

After retirement, Favre was the analyst for his alma mater, Southern Miss, when they played the Rice Owls. He later joined the NFL Network for pregame coverage of Super Bowl XLVII. In 2013, Brett was asked to consider returning to the NFL to play for the injury-plagued St. Louis Rams. He turned down the offer.

Achievements

• Former quarterback Brett Favre owns or shares a number of NFL records. At the time of his retirement, he owned or shared 402 NFL records and still owns or shares 136. He achieved a number of firsts in NFL history, including being the only quarterback to have won three consecutive AP NFL MVP awards and being the first quarterback to win a playoff game after turning 40.
  
  The Pro Football Hall of Fame has an exhibit displaying the jersey Favre wore during his record-breaking 117th consecutive start as a quarterback and a section of their website devoted to what the Hall of Fame calls an "Iron man."
  
  Favre also owns a number of Green Bay Packers and Lambeau Field records. Brett was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Favre: For the Record

    (In Favre, Brett shares portions of his daily journal writ...)

    1997

• movie

  • There's Something About Mary 1998

Religion

Brett Favre is a common-sense Catholic. According to him he knows that God humbles the exalted and that faith isn't a prescription for fame and fortune.

Politics

Brett Favre and his wife Deanna gave $4,800 toward the 2010 re-election campaign of Representative Gene Taylor, a former Mississippi Democrat and present-day Republican. Brett was one of 46 National Football League "players, owners, executives, associates or recent retirees" who donated at least $3,000 or more to federal political candidates or committees in that election cycle.

Prior to the Mississippi runoff election on June 24, 2014, Favre endorsed Republican United States Senator Thad Cochran in his race against State Senator Chris McDaniel.

Views

Favre established the Brett Favre Fourward Foundation in 1996. The foundation has donated more than $2 million to charities in the state of Mississippi as well as to those in his adopted state of Wisconsin. Brett is involved with youth that are ill. He is also known to respond to requests made to his foundation regarding youth with serious illnesses such as cancer.

Quotations: "It's fun leading this offense. I don't think we've hit our peak."

"I really believe this team has a lot of potential - whether it's this year or in years to come, I don't know."

"With each game I play, with each season I play, I'm running out of chances... you're never guaranteed next year. You're never guaranteed the next game. You have to seize the opportunity when it's there in front of you."

"I'd like to think, eight years ago, I was pretty humble and modest. But I think, with each year, you get more modest, more humble, more appreciative. The off the field tragedies put things in better perspective, but life happens to everybody, and I think we all just try to do the best we can."

"I know I can still play, but it's like I told my wife, I'm just tired mentally. I'm just tired."

"You have to believe you're great. You have to have an air about you. My success wasn't because I was a great talent, but because I wanted it more than anybody else. Every minute I step on that field, I want to prove I'm the best player in the league."

"Every game I've ever played, regardless if it was pre-season or Super Bowl, meant the same to me, and I laid it all on the line."

"Life deals you a lot lessons, some people learn from it, some people don't."

"I think every player should think that he's a difference maker."

"There are those people who are in your corner no matter what, you can't do any wrong, even when you do wrong. And then there are those people that no matter what you do they are going to dislike you and that's not going to change."

"If I'm going to play, it's going to be 100-percent commitment."

Personality

Brett is an amicable and likable person who looks to gain win-win outcomes in his life.

Physical Characteristics: Brett Favre is 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) tall and weighs 222 lb (101 kg). He has grey hair and blue eyes.

While everything was going well professionally for Favre, he had become addicted to Vicodin. He had taken the prescription drug on and off for years to manage pain, but it became an addiction in 1995. At one point he took up to fifteen pills a night. In 1995 he blacked out on the flight home after the Pro Bowl. He quit cold turkey soon after, but the saga did not end there. In February 1996 Favre had a seizure prior to surgery on his ankle, which his doctors reported to the NFL. At a meeting with NFL doctors, Favre admitted his addiction, and the NFL made him check into the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas. He was released from the clinic in June 1996.

Quotes from others about the person

• Gene Stallings: "You can call it a miracle or a legend or whatever you want to. I just know that on that day, Brett Favre was larger than life."
  
  Tavaris Jackson: "It's been about three years now I've been getting asked the Brett Favre questions. It's kind of part of my life now. I actually might miss it."
  
  Reggie Bush: "Brett Favre suppose to make 13Mill this year...enough said! We'll see him September 9th in the Superdome!"
  
  Nick Barnett: "We were going to do the same thing without him coming back or not. But do I believe it? I don't even know if I care enough to believe it or not to be honest. It's his career, he's got to do what he's got to do. But it doesn't change nothing for us. We're going to have the same goal whether it's Tarvaris [Jackson], Jeffrey Dahmer or Norman Bates quarterbacking. We're still trying to do the same thing."

Interests

• Сomputer games

• Sport & Clubs

  American Football, Football, Hockey

• Athletes

  Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Larry Bird, Hank Aaron

• Music & Bands

  Southern Rock (Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Allman Brothers Band, the Marshall Tucker Band, ZZ Top, etc.)

Connections

On July 14, 1996 Brett Favre married Deanna Tynes. The couple has two daughters - Brittany and Breleigh.

Father:

Irvin Ernest Favre

(January 5, 1945 - December 21, 2003)

Mother:

Bonita French

(born September 27, 1944)

Spouse:

Deanna Tynes

(born December 28, 1968)

Deanna Tynes Favre is an American activist.

Sister:

Brandi Favre

Brandi is the youngest of the four Favre children.

Brother:

Scott Favre

Brother:

Jeff Favre

Jeff Favre is the general manager and vice president at Presque Isle Downs & Casino.

Daughter:

Brittany Favre

(born February 6, 1989)

Daughter:

Breleigh Favre

(born July 13, 1999)

Friend:

Aaron Rodgers

(born December 2, 1983)

Aaron Rodgers is an American football quarterback for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL).

References

• Brett Favre's Facebook
• Brett Favre's Twitter
• Brett Favre's Instagram
• Favre Favre is a dazzling tribute to the roller-coaster football life of Brett Favre, with personal family photos and remembrances, stunning four-color action shots, and inspiring stories of a lifelong love affair with the all-American game.
  2004
• Brett Favre A book by Irvin Favre, Bonita Favre and Mark Chmura.
  1997