Favre reflects on game, father as he celebrates his induction
CANTON, OHIO — They came in No. 4 jerseys and wearing cheeseheads. They chanted “Go, Pack, go.”
It was Lambeau Field transported to Ohio, and only one man could have caused it.
Brett Favre, welcome to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“Believe me, I am an extremely blessed man,” Favre said Saturday night during an emotional speech. “Play a game that I love so much for 20 years, to have all the wonderful things happen, to share in that joy with you guys here tonight.”
And when he choked up talking about his late father, Irv, and how Favre spent his career “trying to redeem myself ” to make Irv proud, the crowd offered loud and comforting support.
Adding that “this is tougher than any third-and-15,” he spoke of his new goal once his father died in 2003:
“I said to myself, I will make it to the Hall of Fame so I could acknowledge the fact of how important he was. I would not be here before you today without my father, there’s no doubt whatsoever.”
Football’s most durable quarterback (a record 299 straight regular-season starts and 321 including playoffs) and one of its greatest passers, Favre was the first three-time Most Valuable Player (19951997) and an NFL champion in 1996. He played with four teams, defining toughness and fortitude, particularly in 16 seasons with the Green Bay Packers, a franchise he helped revitalize.
Joining Favre in the class of 2016 were Tony Dungy, a trailblazing coach and Super Bowl winner; one of his stars, Marvin Harrison; Kevin Greene; Orlando Pace; Ken Stabler; Dick Stanfel; and Ed DeBartolo Jr.
The first black coach to win an NFL championship, Dungy has been a mentor to dozens of players and fellow coaches. Instead of concentrating on his role as a pioneer, he paid homage to those before him.
“Many of them never got the chance to move up the coaching ladder like I did, but they were so important to the progress in this league,” Dungy said of the 10 AfricanAmerican assistant coaches in the NFL when he broke in as a player in 1977.
Dungy led the Indianapolis Colts to the 2006 NFL title. He also has a coaching tree that has featured Mike Tomlin, Herman Edwards, Jim Caldwell, Rod Marinelli, Leslie Frazier and Lovie Smith.
“Be uncommon, not just average,” he added before paying tribute to former NFL coach Dennis Green, who recently died.
“That thought has stuck with me throughout my life.”
Harrison’s 143 receptions in 2002 are an NFL record. He retired in 2008 with 1,102 catches, now placing him third behind Jerry Rice and Tony Gonzalez, 14,608 yards and 128 touchdowns. He had eight Hall of Fame Game consecutive seasons with at least 1,100 yards receiving as Peyton Manning’s prime target.
Pace was the blocking cornerstone of the St. Louis Rams’ Greatest Show on Turf that won the 1999 NFL title. The top overall draft pick in 1997, he helped turn running back Marshall Faulk and quarterback Kurt Warner into NFL MVPs.
Greene, always a showman, also spent some time as a professional wrestler. His 160 career sacks are third most in NFL history. In 15 pro seasons for four franchises, Greene played linebacker and defensive end with an unmitigated spirit.
Greene, whose father and brother served in combat, drew a standing ovation from his fellow gold jackets and from the fans when he concluded by saluting the armed services.
Nicknamed “Snake” for his elusiveness on and off the field, Stabler helped the Oakland Raiders win their first Super Bowl and make it to four other conference championship games in a five-year span. One of the first great left-handed pro QBs, Stabler, who died last year, was elected by the seniors committee.
Stanfel, who died last year at age 87, also was a seniors committee selection. He helped the Detroit Lions win the NFL title in 1952 and ’53. He earned All-Pro honors five times in his seven-season career, four years with Detroit and three with the Washington Redskins, before retiring at 31 and going into coaching.
DeBartolo’s San Francisco 49ers became the first franchise to win five Super Bowls. He was known as much for his compassion and care for people throughout his organization as for building a winning football team.
“To share this stage with these gentlemen is more than humbling,” he said. “We may be wearing the same jackets, but they have shoes I could never fill.”