July 10, 2025 • 38 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, much of what’s known about legendary NFL quarterback Brett Favre has stayed between the goalposts. So, our own Greg Hengler sat down with the Hall of Fame Green Bay Packers quarterback at his home in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to ask him about the three most important things in his life: his faith, his family, and the game he loved.
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
a show where America is the star and the American
people A bunch of what's known about legendary NFL quarterback
Brett Farv has been kept between the goalposts. So our
own Greg Hengler took the three and a half hour
long drive and he sat down with Brett Farvre in
(00:31):
his Hattiesburg, Mississippi home. And by the way, Greg grew
up a mere walking distance almost spitting distance from lambeau
Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Here's Brett with his story.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Well, my mom and dad are both from.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
The Gulf Coast. My dad's from Gulf Fort. My mother
was from Past Krishan. That probably doesn't mean anything to you,
but right on the beach. My dad grew up not
far from the beach. Gulf Port's kind of right, and
the smack Dad in the middle of the Gulf Coast,
Mississippi Golf Coast. So as you came down from Oxford,
(01:09):
you eventually got on forty nine. If you'd take forty
nine all the way till you can't take it no more,
you would be in Gufport.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
So that's where he grew up. My mom and dad.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Met at Mississippi Gulf Coast Junior College. My dad played
baseball and football there and then they dated eventually got married.
I think they got married while they were at Southern
miss So they left junior college came here. My dad
played baseball, then they started having kids that My older brother, Scott,
(01:43):
is two and a half years older than me. We
all were born in Gufport Goveport Memorial Hospital. So there's Scott, me,
my younger brother, Jeff, and our youngest is Brandy, our sister.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
And I'm a fast.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
Forward little but my mom, her mother, and father owned
a restaurant bar in Pastrischan.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
We practically grew up there.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
My grandfather died in seventy eight, and I actually remember
a lot about him.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
I was seven or eight. I was born in sixty nine.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
When he died, my grandmother just she kept them and
it was called Benny French's Tavern after my grandfather.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
We practically grew up there because.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
When he died, my mom and dad would help my
grandmother ten bar, and we had.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
The whole place to ourselves pretty much.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
There was pool tables and pinball and people get in
there getting drunk when we were drinking, like little bottle cokes,
which were the best, eating all the sweets. And my
grandmother was awesome.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
She was the best. Staying with her was the coolest thing.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Mississippi Gulf Coast is a lot like New Orleans. It
never closes. We grew up Catholic. Everyone on the Gulf
Coast is Catholic. So there's there's parties for everything. There's festivals,
there's rodeos, there's you know, cookoffs parades. Growing up and
out that lifestyle, we went to Marty Garos parades. My
(03:18):
mom and dad would drink, but I don't. I don't
remember him like ever getting like we always were with
them so like we they didn't like drop us off
and then they go ironically. Throughout high school, I never
drank my older brother. I think he may have drunk
a little bit, but we were in athletics. My dad's
(03:41):
mother and father lived in Goport were polar opposite of
my grand grandmother on my mom's side. I stayed with
them one time and that was one too many.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
They said good night, five point thirty still daylight. One
went to one bedroom, One went to the bedroom.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
And I loved my dad's mother and father, but they
were boring, you know, I knew Scott was up playing
pool or doing whatever. But at eighteen, my mom told
me that she was adopted. I played summer league baseball.
My dad was a baseball and football coach. And I
was actually seventeen and I was driving. My dad was
(04:23):
already at the It was a summer league. It was
like American Legion Baseball. We were down on the coast.
I was driving my mom and it was just us two,
and she just felt the need to tell me that
she was adopted, and she was all upset, worried that
I wouldn't We called my grandmother Memo.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
She was worried that I wouldn't look at me Mo.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
All the same, when actually I looked at her even
more finally, like.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
I just couldn't believe she could be that great of.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
A mom and it wasn't even her daughter. But I
only bring that up because I don't know a whole
lot about my mom's actual biological family. But my mom's
biological mother worked for my grandmother and grandfather at the
bar restaurant. Because my grandfather was, believe it or not,
(05:18):
twenty five years older than my grandmother, and this.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Girl was.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
Pregnant mom's mother and didn't want the baby, and they
said they'd take it. So she had a baby, dropped
it off and was gone.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
That was it.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
And the only thing she knows about her father is
that he played professional baseball. I don't even know if
she knows the name. She never said, so kind of
interesting in my dad's family, my grandfather was one hundred
percent choctawl Indian and his family worked from Oklahoma, like
(06:04):
a big reservation up there. But yeah, growing up, my
dad was the driver's that teacher and had football coach
at Hancock North Central now it's Hancock County High School.
My mom was a special education teacher there first through
twelfth was right all together. It was a real small school,
(06:27):
graduated one hundred, so we all rode to school together,
rode home together. I never thought we were rich, but
we had a pool, so I thought we got to
be doing something right. But I think that combined and
made forty four thousand dollars. And I know people didn't
(06:47):
do that and get by, but it's amazing how you
can had four kids and when they called us to
the dinner table, twelve hot dollars if I could, and
so with everyone else, so you know, I say all that,
but like, how in the world did y'all make it?
Speaker 2 (07:08):
When we come back more Brett Favre on Our American.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Stories liehbib here, and I'd like to encourage you to
subscribe to Our American Stories on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, Spotify,
(07:38):
or wherever you get our podcasts. Any story you missed
or want to hear again can be found there daily Again,
please subscribe to the Our American Stories podcast on Apple Podcasts,
the iHeartRadio app, or anywhere you get your podcasts. It
helps us keep these great American stories coming. And we
(08:10):
continue here with our American Stories and Brett Fahr telling
his story. And now let's continue with the story of Brett.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Faar when we wrap up.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
And I'm gluten free, so I make it gluten free bread,
a couple other things almond milk or some yogurt or something,
and it's like one hundred dollars, and every time I
check out, I go, how in the world did my
mom and dad make it?
Speaker 3 (08:38):
You know, I know it was a little bit.
Speaker 4 (08:39):
Cheaper back then, but still so anyway, I grew up
playing baseball and football, just my older brother did.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
The same.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
My younger brother did the same. My older brother had
a scholarship to Mississippi State as a quarterback. He played
a year, he transferred it back to Juco. They ran
the Wishbowl, and he's a little strony white kid. He said,
you know, I need to go somewhere else, and he
ended up playing two years at JUCO, went to Delta
(09:09):
State on a scholarship, went through spring practice, was a
starting quarterback, came home said I've had enough.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
I just don't want to play anymore.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
And he came to Southern Miss and Rolla as just
a student, which was my freshman year, so we were
there at the same time. My younger brother he played
at Southern Miss as well. I actually played defensive back.
And growing up down there was always something going on.
(09:40):
You know, when people when I tell them it was
when I was still drinking, which I quit drinking in
ninety eight. If you would have asked me in ninety seven,
do you ever think you'll stop drinking? I just said no,
that's just the way we were raised. And part of
it was true. But I mean, you can get trouble anywhere,
(10:02):
but the temptation to just go boil you know, a
pot of crawl fish and drink a bunch of beer
and not come home till three in the morning. Is
always there, and saying that we moved from the coast
up here.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Now my wife, she went to school here, my wife.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
We grew up together. She was a year ahead of me.
But I knew her ever since first grade. The fact
that I don't know if that was a door or
what she may be coming in. But yeah, so we've
only other. She played basketball, she played softball. She's a good,
really good athlete. And when we started dating, I was
(10:42):
in the ninth grade and we would.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Throw the baseball together.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
And now she couldn't catch football like if I though,
but she could catch the baseball.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
I thought it was pretty cool because we could throw
it back and forth.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
I could heat it up, she could catch it, and
I was like, this is pretty cool. She went to
Pearl River Junior College played basketball, and then later came
to Southern miss We have two daughters and we have
three grandsons, nine, five and two. Our oldest daughter's thirty one.
(11:21):
She got a law degree from Loyola. Doesn't use it.
That's wrong, It is normal.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
You know. I was hoping to break that.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Our youngest is a junior playing volleyball at Southern mess.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
She quit indoor.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Beach.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
She just doing beach, which is.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
A lot more fun to watch it really is. We
hate it that she quit indoor, but I hate to
because my dad was a coach and I coached two
years myself, So a lot of times people want to
blame the coach, but ten girls quit the indoor. The
girl the woman doesn't coach.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
I mean, it's just it's.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
She sits over there and she just she's like miserable,
never would like, let's work on this today or spend
give me.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
My daughter is one that.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
Unlike me and unlike Deanna, really she needs someone to
tell her.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
I need you best.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
Let's give me fifteen minutes after practice and let's work
on this.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
And you know, she needs someone.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
To to talk to her that way and encourage her.
The more someone didn't talk to me, the more I
dug my heels in and just I'll show them.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
She's not like that.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
My childhood, I mean, if I wasn't playing baseball, I
was playing football.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
That's all the only two I played.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
And I was actually a better baseball player than I
was a football. I went to Southern Miss that you know,
they don't really give They give partial scholarships, they don't
give full scholarships. Fortunately I got a full scholarship. The
only offer I got was the Southern Mess and I
was gonna play both. In fact, I really thought if
(13:18):
I had, if you were to say which one do
you think you have a better shot at playing professional,
I'd just said baseball by far.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
We never threw it in high school. We ran the wishball.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
I mean, I could throw it further and harder than anyone,
but that's all I knew. So even though I was
pretty confident in my ability, I didn't foresee coming here
and starting as a true freshman. And more luck than anything,
a couple of guys got hurt. A couple of guys
(13:53):
played bad. They had moved one of the guys to
a receiver, and little and behold, I was next in line,
and I could have screwed it up very easily, could
have screwed it up cause.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
I didn't know the plays.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
It's funny because I came in against Tulane in the
second game of my true freshman year. We were down
seventeen to three. We were looking awful, and I was nervous.
I was a little bit unsure. I I I knew
I could play, but putting everything together, calling and play.
(14:30):
And that was back when they signaled in and you know,
I I hadn't been on the team very long, and
I wasn't like getting all the reps.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
I wasn't getting any reps. So I did.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
All the guys in the office in the huddle worked
like five year seniors. And it's funny we end up
coming back and winning broken plays. Yeah, maybe I called
it wrong, Maybe I could took the wrong drop, whatever.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
And just made something happen.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
So when I fast forward to Green Bay, it was
the third game we played Minnesota, the first game, overtime loss.
It was the hell of the game. Mikowski played great.
The next week we go to Tampa. I think he
stayed out. We went down two days at a time.
He stayed out a couple of nights, and he.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Played like it.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
He sucked and I ended up getting in the game.
We were down like thirty eighth to three, and so
you can't really put my stock into that game. The
next game we played Cincinnati, and that's the game he
gets hurt. I think it was second quarter and so
(15:40):
we're still in this game, and much like the Tulane game,
I knew this, really.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
I knew after the.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Tampa game that Mkowski would start again, but I knew
that this was my chance to either make it or
break it.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
It's very similar to Tulane. I went in with little
to no reps I played the week before, but.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
A different setting. We were not gonna win that game
the previous week. This one we had a chance to win,
and a lot of it would hinge on how I played,
if not all of it. And they blitzed me every snap,
which was smart except for.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
The last drive.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
They played very cautious and allowed me to just kind
of play. I didn't have to worry about blitzes and
odd stuff. I could just play. And I think after
that game, my thought was it couldn't have gone any better,
even though I knew there was a lot of things
I had to clean up, but I really felt like
(16:48):
I didn't.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
I really felt like Mkowski'd be honest with you, was
not as hurt as he let on.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
I that was my gut that he was playing by
the crowd was booting, and it was a way to.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
Kind of get away from that.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
Let me play and they find out that hey, Don
isn't so bad because I was raw and he had
to believe just like most people, this guy's I mean,
he throw it hard and far, but he don't have
a chance, and which would have been you know, yeah,
(17:30):
but it didn't work out that way.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
No, it didn't work out that way.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
When we come back, we continue with Brett Farv, one
of the NFL's greatest all time quarterback, telling his story
in his own words.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Here on our American stories.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
And we returned to our American stories in Brett Farv's
story in his own words. Let's pick up where we
left off with Green Bays then backup quarterback Brett Farv
getting the win after replacing an injured Don Mkowski in
Week three of the nineteen ninety two NFL season.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
Here's Brent, and really kind of my career is kind
of a reflection of that game.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
A lot of good a lot of wins, but a
lot of you know, what are you doing?
Speaker 4 (18:41):
But fortunately there was a lot more goods than there
were bads. But yeah, you know, Aikman and I are
big buddies. And he said, you know, I guess is
Wally Pip Is that name? So for me, I've had
more people's bring that name up to me that Mkowski
(19:04):
as Wally Pip got hurt, went out thinking I'll be back.
They'll want me back before you know it, and twenty
years later he's still waiting. But I think, you know,
like I tell people, one of the things I think
that served me well early in my career.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Was being naive.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
I and I I I say that because the latter
part of my career, say the last five six years,
I'd been around the block of more than half the
team combined, but as a fifteen year veteran or above,
I knew what we were up against. I knew if
this guy could play this, or when when a play
(19:49):
was called, they didn't have it. I mean, they all have
a chance. But and I started thinking that way rather
than being twenty two.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
And giving it. To be honest with you, just bring
them on.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
So not that the latter part of my career I
didn't play well, but I spent more time worrying about
things I couldn't control.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
But I you know, I say that because.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
In twenty years, most professional athletes don't play whatever it
is for twenty years, you know, I went from barely
shaven to gray hair, I mean complete gray and at
thirty and the way I played and the life that
(20:42):
I lived throughout the things that we talked about earlier,
the adversity, you know, just different, but I was still
playing in the same game. And how quickly it went.
My first year, I was in Atlanta and I went
out to eat. I was just trying to find my way.
(21:05):
No one cared who I was. I was just another guy,
much like I would have been not so much a
Green Bay because I was traded for a first round pick,
so there was already kind of an air of cause
traded for a first round pick is basically like being
drafted in the first round. But in Atlanta, I was
(21:27):
the second round pick. Landville hated me for whatever reason,
I really don't know. The starting five offensive linemen were
all thirty two or above, and one of the one
of the tackles was a guy named Mike Ken who
was my rookie year was thirty eight or nine, and
he was one of the guys that went out to
(21:48):
eat with us, and I remember him saying, how old
are you. I said, I'm twenty one. He said that
was eighteen years ago. When I was twenty one and
how fun those days were, and and I said, how
old are you? And I I think thirty eight thirty nine,
(22:09):
been playing eighteen years. I was like, jeez, that's old.
I I didn't say that, but I was thinking that.
And then fast forward, I would have guys, how many
years is this for you? I'd say this is year
nineteen and I, oh, my god, and I it would
I would go back to flashback to the and I'm like,
(22:33):
where did it get? Where did it go?
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Which can be said the same in life. The older
you get.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
I'll never forget sitting on my mom's lap as a kid,
couldn't tell you how old I was. And we were
talking about I don't know if it was my birthday
coming up or whatever, and she was in this recliner.
We were kind of rocking, and sh I said, well,
when's your birthday? She said, my birthday doesn't matter, and
(23:03):
I said, all birthdays matter. She said, when you get
my age, they come a lot quicker than you want,
and you could care less. And I thought to myself,
no way, and she was right.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
She was right. Before you know it, man, another one.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
I think I said this in my Hall of Fame
speech I I talked about this the only time and
in our life that I heard my dad and tak
you something. Now, of course it wasn't to me. But
after FU football practice. It was my dad and three
other coaches, and they had been together forever. So after
(23:42):
football practice, everyone.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
Would leave and they would watch film and do whatever.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
I had to stick around, so I'd do whatever. Sometimes
I just lay outside in the locker room. And as
I said, then, I say the same thing now. I
don't know exactly how I played the week before. We
didn't throw a whole lot, but I assume I didn't
(24:08):
play very well. We probably lost only because I overheard
him say, well, I can tell you one thing. My
son will redeem himself. He'll play much better. I can
promise you that. And I was like, geez, and that
was kind of I like to write it off as
that generation. And I'm assuming this. I don't know, but
(24:30):
I assume he felt like if he gave compliments that
I would let off the gas a little bit. And
maybe there's some truth to that, not with me, but
with a lot of kids, because the way he coached
me and the way he handled me would easily turn
(24:50):
the other kids off. Then and now like, screw it,
I won't him play. It happens all the time, and
that's the way he was with me. But probably why
I succeeded as far as athletics. And my two brothers played,
(25:11):
but they I don't know. I mean, I think they
loved it, but I don't think they loved it like
I did. You couldn't place any more expectations or any
higher than I placed upon myself. So my dad would
often say, you need to do this, you do that.
I was already doing it. Even if I was doing it.
He was gonna tell me he need to run more bleachers.
(25:32):
I was already running him. So rather than turn me off,
it motivated me. It always motivated me, and I used
that later in my career. It was a self disciplined thing.
So like every year I'd come back for training camp
and there would always be a new quarterback in the air,
even if he wasn't drafted, maybe just been a I
(25:54):
would talk myself into believing that they were trying to
find the next guy to replace me, and so I
would play every play in practice as if it was
a Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
And I would think.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
I would always joke around and goofall from practice. But
I think if you would go back and ask any
coach that I played for what I was like in practice,
they would say, well, that's a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
But I was competitive.
Speaker 4 (26:20):
Every throw mattered, every play mattered. I wanted to win
every thing I did, every play, every practice. And that
goes back to my dad in a twisted kind of way.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
And you're listening to Brett Farv and you're listening to
him unfiltered, raw about his life and moving from point
to point in a beautiful way, the way we all
do when we're talking to friends and family. We don't
do the big edited pieces here in our American stories.
We like to get you what it would be like
sitting down with Brett, because that's what we do. We
(26:58):
sit down with folks, We let them talk, and we
get ourselves out of the way. And my goodness, what
he was saying about his dad reminded me of mine.
He knew how to push my buttons. He rarely said
I love you and was rarely saying encouraging words. But
I didn't know many dads back in the day who
did much of that. When we continue more of Brett
Farb's life story, in his own words, here on our
(27:21):
American stories, and we continue with our American stories and
Brett Farb's life story in his own words.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Let's return to Brett.
Speaker 4 (27:47):
My daughter walks in here right now, and just two
of us, I'd probably ask if she worked out or
she did some and she's like, ganged dad, really, And
then my wife will say, why do you go?
Speaker 3 (27:59):
That's I'm a lot like my dad.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
But rather than turned me off it it It would
piss me off, but it would motivate me and drive
me whole. Like I'll show you, I'd do twice as
much just for the hell of it. And I think
that that drive definitely wasn't statistics going into college that
(28:29):
got me there. It was really by luck that I
got a scholarship. A couple of guys chose to go elsewhere.
The coach that recruited me wanted me bad, felt like
I could play, but he couldn't get convinced. The head
coach because there was no film like there was film
(28:50):
that I won't see him fro But definitely, once I
got to the pros, I mean it was you. I
was not gonna be denied. I was confident, but I
wouldn't say cocky in any Some have thought that, but
(29:14):
you know, Eron comes across as cocky, so very cocky
it is.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
But I was more. I'd put the work in.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
I knew that I wasn't the tallest, I wasn't the strongest, although.
Speaker 3 (29:33):
I thought I was, wasn't the quickest, but I was.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
I was gonna do whatever it took to win a game.
And it didn't have to be throwing. It could be running,
it can be blocking, it can be tackling. Now that
definitely goes back to high school because I played.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
I played a non glamorous cornerback position.
Speaker 4 (29:55):
I handed it off all the time and pitched it,
played defense, punted.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
In Lincoln throat.
Speaker 4 (30:02):
Oh yeah, they said, you let me coach when you play.
I'm being a lot really polite. It was a lot
more harsher than that.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:15):
I rides back in the little Dodge D fifty truck
coming from practice home was uh, there was never Like
I tell people this all the time, I say it
jokingly because it would be funny. Like if we were
driving home, there was about a fifteen minute drive. If
(30:36):
he were to say, son, how you doing in school?
I'd have passed out if he said are you you're
making good grades? And if I said, yeah, good, I'm
proud of it, I'll just shut my pants. Or how's
it going with Dan? You guys okay, I'd have jumped out.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
Of the truck. That would have been so ah, it
had been so awkward he was.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
And Deanna knew my dad as well as I did,
cause she took driver's head under him, and she she'll
if she were here, she would say I could see
through the harshness, but she probably could. But she would
also agree that everything he did was and how he
(31:24):
said it or or spoke or related he would scare you.
So like if you were in here and he walked in,
he he's gonna say something like.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
Holy who is that? And that's how he talked to you.
Speaker 4 (31:39):
It was always loud, and even if he wasn't mad,
you just he came across that way.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
He just didn't ever sit down, And how's it going?
What the hell do you what?
Speaker 4 (31:53):
How? That's how it was, So what's what's it like
from going to you know what? I don't miss it
at all.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
I don't I thought I would. I was really.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
I was nervous about what the next phase of my
life would be like because that's all I knew. And
I think part of me coming back a couple of
those times was this, if I leave, it's over. And
I didn't really want to come back and play the
(32:32):
last four years. I just didn't love it as much,
but I still loved it enough to give it a shot.
So depending on what time in the off season you
got me, i'd be like I had enough, and then
it got closer. It's kind of like school growing up,
(32:54):
you know, I couldn't wait to get out of school,
and then by the end of the summer, you're like,
I'm kind of ready to go back.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
That's kind of the way I was.
Speaker 4 (33:02):
But when I finally did retire in the following season
opening day, I was outside doing something and Deanna sent
me a m sent me a message said, hey, Minnesota's on,
and I thought to myself, i'm'a go ahead and check
(33:22):
'em out. And I sat right where you were and
I watched like two or three series, got me something
to eat, and then I walked outside, went back doing
what I was doing, and I thought to myself, I
am so glad I'm not there, And and the reasons
would probably shocked.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
You.
Speaker 4 (33:43):
The reasons that I was glad I wasn't there is
cause I didn't wanna have to get on the flight
f I all the way back from San Diego and
get home late. Not to mention, I don't even know
if they want or lost, but I I just if
I knew that every game was gonna be yeah twenty
one zero route us, when they would have made it
(34:04):
easier to go back, I just got tired of the stress.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
So you know, I wake up. That's calk.
Speaker 4 (34:15):
I've been calling the expansion joints in the driveway for
like a week.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
Then it's like, what are you doing?
Speaker 4 (34:24):
And I spent four hours today calking and leaves blowing
in it and I'm trying to pull the leaves out
and just but I'm enjoying myself. Some days it's something
breaks or something it's a paint in that. But you know,
(34:47):
I got something that keeps me busy. I enjoy we
like this. Right now is volleyball season. So this past
weekend we're in Covington, Louisiana for a tournament. Now we
go to LSU for one this week. In the following
week we go to Gulf Shores and I mean, we
love it. We don't miss a game. M we there's
(35:09):
no reason for us to miss a game. Uh, we're
we're definitely involved. Grandkids will be see the mental ones
playing baseball. So he hadn't started playing yet. He's took
him to the back and cage last week. So we're
we're involved with them. Yeah, couple miles away. Oh nice,
(35:31):
so we s we see him pretty regular. We just
been moving him into a new house.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
I said.
Speaker 4 (35:38):
We me, Indiana's probably done most of the work. The
kids are obviously too young to do anything. But yeah,
I tell Deanna said, we got no one to playing
for ourselves. But like you're c and Alex, my son
in law is a great guy and he's a great dad,
and he does it. He's like mister mom. He Britney's
(36:00):
kind of it's kind of like a role reversal. They
start crying, they go to him, but they can't shoe
gum and tie their shoes at the same time. And
moving them into a new house. And the old house
was nice, but they just get over there and like
(36:23):
the you couldn't see the kids. The grass was so high.
You know, I'm like, cut your grass. We'll get who
ends up cutting the grass me because in fact, if
I wait, it's not gonna get cut. I'm hoping that
they'll they'll do a better job. But let me tell you,
(36:46):
my dad wasn't a perfect parent, but we were working
when we were kids, and even when there wasn't work.
I can't tell you how much firewood we we cut
and we stacked and used in South Mississippi.
Speaker 3 (37:02):
How many times I used firewood. I think he just
did it for the hell of it.
Speaker 4 (37:06):
Man, I can't tell you how many times I did that,
and he'd stack wood on me and I'd have to
carry it. We had three grandsons. I try to get
him to do that. They looked at me like I
was stupid.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
Yep, whose fault is that? It's the appearent's fault.
Speaker 4 (37:25):
Yeah, Look, every spanking I got was well worth it.
I deserved every one of them, and probably the ones
I didn't deserve I needed anyway, and it didn't do
me no harm.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Nowadays, you can't even spank your own kids.
Speaker 4 (37:46):
Called DHS on you. Well, I called DHS my dad
would he's ill. You'll call DHS my side when I'm
done with you.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
And you've been listening to Brett Favor in his own word,
and by the way, this is just part one in
our five part series with Brett. Brett Farre's story a
great American story. Here on our American Stories.
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
a show where America is the star and the American
people A bunch of what's known about legendary NFL quarterback
Brett Farv has been kept between the goalposts. So our
own Greg Hengler took the three and a half hour
long drive and he sat down with Brett Farvre in
(00:31):
his Hattiesburg, Mississippi home. And by the way, Greg grew
up a mere walking distance almost spitting distance from lambeau
Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Here's Brett with his story.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Well, my mom and dad are both from.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
The Gulf Coast. My dad's from Gulf Fort. My mother
was from Past Krishan. That probably doesn't mean anything to you,
but right on the beach. My dad grew up not
far from the beach. Gulf Port's kind of right, and
the smack Dad in the middle of the Gulf Coast,
Mississippi Golf Coast. So as you came down from Oxford,
(01:09):
you eventually got on forty nine. If you'd take forty
nine all the way till you can't take it no more,
you would be in Gufport.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
So that's where he grew up. My mom and dad.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Met at Mississippi Gulf Coast Junior College. My dad played
baseball and football there and then they dated eventually got married.
I think they got married while they were at Southern
miss So they left junior college came here. My dad
played baseball, then they started having kids that My older brother, Scott,
(01:43):
is two and a half years older than me. We
all were born in Gufport Goveport Memorial Hospital. So there's Scott, me,
my younger brother, Jeff, and our youngest is Brandy, our sister.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
And I'm a fast.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
Forward little but my mom, her mother, and father owned
a restaurant bar in Pastrischan.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
We practically grew up there.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
My grandfather died in seventy eight, and I actually remember
a lot about him.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
I was seven or eight. I was born in sixty nine.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
When he died, my grandmother just she kept them and
it was called Benny French's Tavern after my grandfather.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
We practically grew up there because.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
When he died, my mom and dad would help my
grandmother ten bar, and we had.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
The whole place to ourselves pretty much.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
There was pool tables and pinball and people get in
there getting drunk when we were drinking, like little bottle cokes,
which were the best, eating all the sweets. And my
grandmother was awesome.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
She was the best. Staying with her was the coolest thing.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Mississippi Gulf Coast is a lot like New Orleans. It
never closes. We grew up Catholic. Everyone on the Gulf
Coast is Catholic. So there's there's parties for everything. There's festivals,
there's rodeos, there's you know, cookoffs parades. Growing up and
out that lifestyle, we went to Marty Garos parades. My
(03:18):
mom and dad would drink, but I don't. I don't
remember him like ever getting like we always were with
them so like we they didn't like drop us off
and then they go ironically. Throughout high school, I never
drank my older brother. I think he may have drunk
a little bit, but we were in athletics. My dad's
(03:41):
mother and father lived in Goport were polar opposite of
my grand grandmother on my mom's side. I stayed with
them one time and that was one too many.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
They said good night, five point thirty still daylight. One
went to one bedroom, One went to the bedroom.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
And I loved my dad's mother and father, but they
were boring, you know, I knew Scott was up playing
pool or doing whatever. But at eighteen, my mom told
me that she was adopted. I played summer league baseball.
My dad was a baseball and football coach. And I
was actually seventeen and I was driving. My dad was
(04:23):
already at the It was a summer league. It was
like American Legion Baseball. We were down on the coast.
I was driving my mom and it was just us two,
and she just felt the need to tell me that
she was adopted, and she was all upset, worried that
I wouldn't We called my grandmother Memo.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
She was worried that I wouldn't look at me Mo.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
All the same, when actually I looked at her even
more finally, like.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
I just couldn't believe she could be that great of.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
A mom and it wasn't even her daughter. But I
only bring that up because I don't know a whole
lot about my mom's actual biological family. But my mom's
biological mother worked for my grandmother and grandfather at the
bar restaurant. Because my grandfather was, believe it or not,
(05:18):
twenty five years older than my grandmother, and this.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Girl was.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
Pregnant mom's mother and didn't want the baby, and they
said they'd take it. So she had a baby, dropped
it off and was gone.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
That was it.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
And the only thing she knows about her father is
that he played professional baseball. I don't even know if
she knows the name. She never said, so kind of
interesting in my dad's family, my grandfather was one hundred
percent choctawl Indian and his family worked from Oklahoma, like
(06:04):
a big reservation up there. But yeah, growing up, my
dad was the driver's that teacher and had football coach
at Hancock North Central now it's Hancock County High School.
My mom was a special education teacher there first through
twelfth was right all together. It was a real small school,
(06:27):
graduated one hundred, so we all rode to school together,
rode home together. I never thought we were rich, but
we had a pool, so I thought we got to
be doing something right. But I think that combined and
made forty four thousand dollars. And I know people didn't
(06:47):
do that and get by, but it's amazing how you
can had four kids and when they called us to
the dinner table, twelve hot dollars if I could, and
so with everyone else, so you know, I say all that,
but like, how in the world did y'all make it?
Speaker 2 (07:08):
When we come back more Brett Favre on Our American.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Stories liehbib here, and I'd like to encourage you to
subscribe to Our American Stories on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, Spotify,
(07:38):
or wherever you get our podcasts. Any story you missed
or want to hear again can be found there daily Again,
please subscribe to the Our American Stories podcast on Apple Podcasts,
the iHeartRadio app, or anywhere you get your podcasts. It
helps us keep these great American stories coming. And we
(08:10):
continue here with our American Stories and Brett Fahr telling
his story. And now let's continue with the story of Brett.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Faar when we wrap up.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
And I'm gluten free, so I make it gluten free bread,
a couple other things almond milk or some yogurt or something,
and it's like one hundred dollars, and every time I
check out, I go, how in the world did my
mom and dad make it?
Speaker 3 (08:38):
You know, I know it was a little bit.
Speaker 4 (08:39):
Cheaper back then, but still so anyway, I grew up
playing baseball and football, just my older brother did.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
The same.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
My younger brother did the same. My older brother had
a scholarship to Mississippi State as a quarterback. He played
a year, he transferred it back to Juco. They ran
the Wishbowl, and he's a little strony white kid. He said,
you know, I need to go somewhere else, and he
ended up playing two years at JUCO, went to Delta
(09:09):
State on a scholarship, went through spring practice, was a
starting quarterback, came home said I've had enough.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
I just don't want to play anymore.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
And he came to Southern Miss and Rolla as just
a student, which was my freshman year, so we were
there at the same time. My younger brother he played
at Southern Miss as well. I actually played defensive back.
And growing up down there was always something going on.
(09:40):
You know, when people when I tell them it was
when I was still drinking, which I quit drinking in
ninety eight. If you would have asked me in ninety seven,
do you ever think you'll stop drinking? I just said no,
that's just the way we were raised. And part of
it was true. But I mean, you can get trouble anywhere,
(10:02):
but the temptation to just go boil you know, a
pot of crawl fish and drink a bunch of beer
and not come home till three in the morning. Is
always there, and saying that we moved from the coast
up here.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Now my wife, she went to school here, my wife.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
We grew up together. She was a year ahead of me.
But I knew her ever since first grade. The fact
that I don't know if that was a door or
what she may be coming in. But yeah, so we've
only other. She played basketball, she played softball. She's a good,
really good athlete. And when we started dating, I was
(10:42):
in the ninth grade and we would.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Throw the baseball together.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
And now she couldn't catch football like if I though,
but she could catch the baseball.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
I thought it was pretty cool because we could throw
it back and forth.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
I could heat it up, she could catch it, and
I was like, this is pretty cool. She went to
Pearl River Junior College played basketball, and then later came
to Southern miss We have two daughters and we have
three grandsons, nine, five and two. Our oldest daughter's thirty one.
(11:21):
She got a law degree from Loyola. Doesn't use it.
That's wrong, It is normal.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
You know. I was hoping to break that.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Our youngest is a junior playing volleyball at Southern mess.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
She quit indoor.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Beach.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
She just doing beach, which is.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
A lot more fun to watch it really is. We
hate it that she quit indoor, but I hate to
because my dad was a coach and I coached two
years myself, So a lot of times people want to
blame the coach, but ten girls quit the indoor. The
girl the woman doesn't coach.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
I mean, it's just it's.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
She sits over there and she just she's like miserable,
never would like, let's work on this today or spend
give me.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
My daughter is one that.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
Unlike me and unlike Deanna, really she needs someone to
tell her.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
I need you best.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
Let's give me fifteen minutes after practice and let's work
on this.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
And you know, she needs someone.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
To to talk to her that way and encourage her.
The more someone didn't talk to me, the more I
dug my heels in and just I'll show them.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
She's not like that.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
My childhood, I mean, if I wasn't playing baseball, I
was playing football.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
That's all the only two I played.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
And I was actually a better baseball player than I
was a football. I went to Southern Miss that you know,
they don't really give They give partial scholarships, they don't
give full scholarships. Fortunately I got a full scholarship. The
only offer I got was the Southern Mess and I
was gonna play both. In fact, I really thought if
(13:18):
I had, if you were to say which one do
you think you have a better shot at playing professional,
I'd just said baseball by far.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
We never threw it in high school. We ran the wishball.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
I mean, I could throw it further and harder than anyone,
but that's all I knew. So even though I was
pretty confident in my ability, I didn't foresee coming here
and starting as a true freshman. And more luck than anything,
a couple of guys got hurt. A couple of guys
(13:53):
played bad. They had moved one of the guys to
a receiver, and little and behold, I was next in line,
and I could have screwed it up very easily, could
have screwed it up cause.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
I didn't know the plays.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
It's funny because I came in against Tulane in the
second game of my true freshman year. We were down
seventeen to three. We were looking awful, and I was nervous.
I was a little bit unsure. I I I knew
I could play, but putting everything together, calling and play.
(14:30):
And that was back when they signaled in and you know,
I I hadn't been on the team very long, and
I wasn't like getting all the reps.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
I wasn't getting any reps. So I did.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
All the guys in the office in the huddle worked
like five year seniors. And it's funny we end up
coming back and winning broken plays. Yeah, maybe I called
it wrong, Maybe I could took the wrong drop, whatever.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
And just made something happen.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
So when I fast forward to Green Bay, it was
the third game we played Minnesota, the first game, overtime loss.
It was the hell of the game. Mikowski played great.
The next week we go to Tampa. I think he
stayed out. We went down two days at a time.
He stayed out a couple of nights, and he.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Played like it.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
He sucked and I ended up getting in the game.
We were down like thirty eighth to three, and so
you can't really put my stock into that game. The
next game we played Cincinnati, and that's the game he
gets hurt. I think it was second quarter and so
(15:40):
we're still in this game, and much like the Tulane game,
I knew this, really.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
I knew after the.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Tampa game that Mkowski would start again, but I knew
that this was my chance to either make it or
break it.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
It's very similar to Tulane. I went in with little
to no reps I played the week before, but.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
A different setting. We were not gonna win that game
the previous week. This one we had a chance to win,
and a lot of it would hinge on how I played,
if not all of it. And they blitzed me every snap,
which was smart except for.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
The last drive.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
They played very cautious and allowed me to just kind
of play. I didn't have to worry about blitzes and
odd stuff. I could just play. And I think after
that game, my thought was it couldn't have gone any better,
even though I knew there was a lot of things
I had to clean up, but I really felt like
(16:48):
I didn't.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
I really felt like Mkowski'd be honest with you, was
not as hurt as he let on.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
I that was my gut that he was playing by
the crowd was booting, and it was a way to.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
Kind of get away from that.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
Let me play and they find out that hey, Don
isn't so bad because I was raw and he had
to believe just like most people, this guy's I mean,
he throw it hard and far, but he don't have
a chance, and which would have been you know, yeah,
(17:30):
but it didn't work out that way.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
No, it didn't work out that way.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
When we come back, we continue with Brett Farv, one
of the NFL's greatest all time quarterback, telling his story
in his own words.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Here on our American stories.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
And we returned to our American stories in Brett Farv's
story in his own words. Let's pick up where we
left off with Green Bays then backup quarterback Brett Farv
getting the win after replacing an injured Don Mkowski in
Week three of the nineteen ninety two NFL season.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
Here's Brent, and really kind of my career is kind
of a reflection of that game.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
A lot of good a lot of wins, but a
lot of you know, what are you doing?
Speaker 4 (18:41):
But fortunately there was a lot more goods than there
were bads. But yeah, you know, Aikman and I are
big buddies. And he said, you know, I guess is
Wally Pip Is that name? So for me, I've had
more people's bring that name up to me that Mkowski
(19:04):
as Wally Pip got hurt, went out thinking I'll be back.
They'll want me back before you know it, and twenty
years later he's still waiting. But I think, you know,
like I tell people, one of the things I think
that served me well early in my career.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Was being naive.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
I and I I I say that because the latter
part of my career, say the last five six years,
I'd been around the block of more than half the
team combined, but as a fifteen year veteran or above,
I knew what we were up against. I knew if
this guy could play this, or when when a play
(19:49):
was called, they didn't have it. I mean, they all have
a chance. But and I started thinking that way rather
than being twenty two.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
And giving it. To be honest with you, just bring
them on.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
So not that the latter part of my career I
didn't play well, but I spent more time worrying about
things I couldn't control.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
But I you know, I say that because.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
In twenty years, most professional athletes don't play whatever it
is for twenty years, you know, I went from barely
shaven to gray hair, I mean complete gray and at
thirty and the way I played and the life that
(20:42):
I lived throughout the things that we talked about earlier,
the adversity, you know, just different, but I was still
playing in the same game. And how quickly it went.
My first year, I was in Atlanta and I went
out to eat. I was just trying to find my way.
(21:05):
No one cared who I was. I was just another guy,
much like I would have been not so much a
Green Bay because I was traded for a first round pick,
so there was already kind of an air of cause
traded for a first round pick is basically like being
drafted in the first round. But in Atlanta, I was
(21:27):
the second round pick. Landville hated me for whatever reason,
I really don't know. The starting five offensive linemen were
all thirty two or above, and one of the one
of the tackles was a guy named Mike Ken who
was my rookie year was thirty eight or nine, and
he was one of the guys that went out to
(21:48):
eat with us, and I remember him saying, how old
are you. I said, I'm twenty one. He said that
was eighteen years ago. When I was twenty one and
how fun those days were, and and I said, how
old are you? And I I think thirty eight thirty nine,
(22:09):
been playing eighteen years. I was like, jeez, that's old.
I I didn't say that, but I was thinking that.
And then fast forward, I would have guys, how many
years is this for you? I'd say this is year
nineteen and I, oh, my god, and I it would
I would go back to flashback to the and I'm like,
(22:33):
where did it get? Where did it go?
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Which can be said the same in life. The older
you get.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
I'll never forget sitting on my mom's lap as a kid,
couldn't tell you how old I was. And we were
talking about I don't know if it was my birthday
coming up or whatever, and she was in this recliner.
We were kind of rocking, and sh I said, well,
when's your birthday? She said, my birthday doesn't matter, and
(23:03):
I said, all birthdays matter. She said, when you get
my age, they come a lot quicker than you want,
and you could care less. And I thought to myself,
no way, and she was right.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
She was right. Before you know it, man, another one.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
I think I said this in my Hall of Fame
speech I I talked about this the only time and
in our life that I heard my dad and tak
you something. Now, of course it wasn't to me. But
after FU football practice. It was my dad and three
other coaches, and they had been together forever. So after
(23:42):
football practice, everyone.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
Would leave and they would watch film and do whatever.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
I had to stick around, so I'd do whatever. Sometimes
I just lay outside in the locker room. And as
I said, then, I say the same thing now. I
don't know exactly how I played the week before. We
didn't throw a whole lot, but I assume I didn't
(24:08):
play very well. We probably lost only because I overheard
him say, well, I can tell you one thing. My
son will redeem himself. He'll play much better. I can
promise you that. And I was like, geez, and that
was kind of I like to write it off as
that generation. And I'm assuming this. I don't know, but
(24:30):
I assume he felt like if he gave compliments that
I would let off the gas a little bit. And
maybe there's some truth to that, not with me, but
with a lot of kids, because the way he coached
me and the way he handled me would easily turn
(24:50):
the other kids off. Then and now like, screw it,
I won't him play. It happens all the time, and
that's the way he was with me. But probably why
I succeeded as far as athletics. And my two brothers played,
(25:11):
but they I don't know. I mean, I think they
loved it, but I don't think they loved it like
I did. You couldn't place any more expectations or any
higher than I placed upon myself. So my dad would
often say, you need to do this, you do that.
I was already doing it. Even if I was doing it.
He was gonna tell me he need to run more bleachers.
(25:32):
I was already running him. So rather than turn me off,
it motivated me. It always motivated me, and I used
that later in my career. It was a self disciplined thing.
So like every year I'd come back for training camp
and there would always be a new quarterback in the air,
even if he wasn't drafted, maybe just been a I
(25:54):
would talk myself into believing that they were trying to
find the next guy to replace me, and so I
would play every play in practice as if it was
a Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
And I would think.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
I would always joke around and goofall from practice. But
I think if you would go back and ask any
coach that I played for what I was like in practice,
they would say, well, that's a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
But I was competitive.
Speaker 4 (26:20):
Every throw mattered, every play mattered. I wanted to win
every thing I did, every play, every practice. And that
goes back to my dad in a twisted kind of way.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
And you're listening to Brett Farv and you're listening to
him unfiltered, raw about his life and moving from point
to point in a beautiful way, the way we all
do when we're talking to friends and family. We don't
do the big edited pieces here in our American stories.
We like to get you what it would be like
sitting down with Brett, because that's what we do. We
(26:58):
sit down with folks, We let them talk, and we
get ourselves out of the way. And my goodness, what
he was saying about his dad reminded me of mine.
He knew how to push my buttons. He rarely said
I love you and was rarely saying encouraging words. But
I didn't know many dads back in the day who
did much of that. When we continue more of Brett
Farb's life story, in his own words, here on our
(27:21):
American stories, and we continue with our American stories and
Brett Farb's life story in his own words.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Let's return to Brett.
Speaker 4 (27:47):
My daughter walks in here right now, and just two
of us, I'd probably ask if she worked out or
she did some and she's like, ganged dad, really, And
then my wife will say, why do you go?
Speaker 3 (27:59):
That's I'm a lot like my dad.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
But rather than turned me off it it It would
piss me off, but it would motivate me and drive
me whole. Like I'll show you, I'd do twice as
much just for the hell of it. And I think
that that drive definitely wasn't statistics going into college that
(28:29):
got me there. It was really by luck that I
got a scholarship. A couple of guys chose to go elsewhere.
The coach that recruited me wanted me bad, felt like
I could play, but he couldn't get convinced. The head
coach because there was no film like there was film
(28:50):
that I won't see him fro But definitely, once I
got to the pros, I mean it was you. I
was not gonna be denied. I was confident, but I
wouldn't say cocky in any Some have thought that, but
(29:14):
you know, Eron comes across as cocky, so very cocky
it is.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
But I was more. I'd put the work in.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
I knew that I wasn't the tallest, I wasn't the strongest, although.
Speaker 3 (29:33):
I thought I was, wasn't the quickest, but I was.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
I was gonna do whatever it took to win a game.
And it didn't have to be throwing. It could be running,
it can be blocking, it can be tackling. Now that
definitely goes back to high school because I played.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
I played a non glamorous cornerback position.
Speaker 4 (29:55):
I handed it off all the time and pitched it,
played defense, punted.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
In Lincoln throat.
Speaker 4 (30:02):
Oh yeah, they said, you let me coach when you play.
I'm being a lot really polite. It was a lot
more harsher than that.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:15):
I rides back in the little Dodge D fifty truck
coming from practice home was uh, there was never Like
I tell people this all the time, I say it
jokingly because it would be funny. Like if we were
driving home, there was about a fifteen minute drive. If
(30:36):
he were to say, son, how you doing in school?
I'd have passed out if he said are you you're
making good grades? And if I said, yeah, good, I'm
proud of it, I'll just shut my pants. Or how's
it going with Dan? You guys okay, I'd have jumped out.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
Of the truck. That would have been so ah, it
had been so awkward he was.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
And Deanna knew my dad as well as I did,
cause she took driver's head under him, and she she'll
if she were here, she would say I could see
through the harshness, but she probably could. But she would
also agree that everything he did was and how he
(31:24):
said it or or spoke or related he would scare you.
So like if you were in here and he walked in,
he he's gonna say something like.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
Holy who is that? And that's how he talked to you.
Speaker 4 (31:39):
It was always loud, and even if he wasn't mad,
you just he came across that way.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
He just didn't ever sit down, And how's it going?
What the hell do you what?
Speaker 4 (31:53):
How? That's how it was, So what's what's it like
from going to you know what? I don't miss it
at all.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
I don't I thought I would. I was really.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
I was nervous about what the next phase of my
life would be like because that's all I knew. And
I think part of me coming back a couple of
those times was this, if I leave, it's over. And
I didn't really want to come back and play the
(32:32):
last four years. I just didn't love it as much,
but I still loved it enough to give it a shot.
So depending on what time in the off season you
got me, i'd be like I had enough, and then
it got closer. It's kind of like school growing up,
(32:54):
you know, I couldn't wait to get out of school,
and then by the end of the summer, you're like,
I'm kind of ready to go back.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
That's kind of the way I was.
Speaker 4 (33:02):
But when I finally did retire in the following season
opening day, I was outside doing something and Deanna sent
me a m sent me a message said, hey, Minnesota's on,
and I thought to myself, i'm'a go ahead and check
(33:22):
'em out. And I sat right where you were and
I watched like two or three series, got me something
to eat, and then I walked outside, went back doing
what I was doing, and I thought to myself, I
am so glad I'm not there, And and the reasons
would probably shocked.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
You.
Speaker 4 (33:43):
The reasons that I was glad I wasn't there is
cause I didn't wanna have to get on the flight
f I all the way back from San Diego and
get home late. Not to mention, I don't even know
if they want or lost, but I I just if
I knew that every game was gonna be yeah twenty
one zero route us, when they would have made it
(34:04):
easier to go back, I just got tired of the stress.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
So you know, I wake up. That's calk.
Speaker 4 (34:15):
I've been calling the expansion joints in the driveway for
like a week.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
Then it's like, what are you doing?
Speaker 4 (34:24):
And I spent four hours today calking and leaves blowing
in it and I'm trying to pull the leaves out
and just but I'm enjoying myself. Some days it's something
breaks or something it's a paint in that. But you know,
(34:47):
I got something that keeps me busy. I enjoy we
like this. Right now is volleyball season. So this past
weekend we're in Covington, Louisiana for a tournament. Now we
go to LSU for one this week. In the following
week we go to Gulf Shores and I mean, we
love it. We don't miss a game. M we there's
(35:09):
no reason for us to miss a game. Uh, we're
we're definitely involved. Grandkids will be see the mental ones
playing baseball. So he hadn't started playing yet. He's took
him to the back and cage last week. So we're
we're involved with them. Yeah, couple miles away. Oh nice,
(35:31):
so we s we see him pretty regular. We just
been moving him into a new house.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
I said.
Speaker 4 (35:38):
We me, Indiana's probably done most of the work. The
kids are obviously too young to do anything. But yeah,
I tell Deanna said, we got no one to playing
for ourselves. But like you're c and Alex, my son
in law is a great guy and he's a great dad,
and he does it. He's like mister mom. He Britney's
(36:00):
kind of it's kind of like a role reversal. They
start crying, they go to him, but they can't shoe
gum and tie their shoes at the same time. And
moving them into a new house. And the old house
was nice, but they just get over there and like
(36:23):
the you couldn't see the kids. The grass was so high.
You know, I'm like, cut your grass. We'll get who
ends up cutting the grass me because in fact, if
I wait, it's not gonna get cut. I'm hoping that
they'll they'll do a better job. But let me tell you,
(36:46):
my dad wasn't a perfect parent, but we were working
when we were kids, and even when there wasn't work.
I can't tell you how much firewood we we cut
and we stacked and used in South Mississippi.
Speaker 3 (37:02):
How many times I used firewood. I think he just
did it for the hell of it.
Speaker 4 (37:06):
Man, I can't tell you how many times I did that,
and he'd stack wood on me and I'd have to
carry it. We had three grandsons. I try to get
him to do that. They looked at me like I
was stupid.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
Yep, whose fault is that? It's the appearent's fault.
Speaker 4 (37:25):
Yeah, Look, every spanking I got was well worth it.
I deserved every one of them, and probably the ones
I didn't deserve I needed anyway, and it didn't do
me no harm.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Nowadays, you can't even spank your own kids.
Speaker 4 (37:46):
Called DHS on you. Well, I called DHS my dad
would he's ill. You'll call DHS my side when I'm
done with you.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
And you've been listening to Brett Favor in his own word,
and by the way, this is just part one in
our five part series with Brett. Brett Farre's story a
great American story. Here on our American Stories.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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