There were Packer jerseys as far as the eye could see, nearly all of them with his No. 4 on the back.
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It was Lambeau Field transported to OH, and only one man could have caused it.
With time, the bad blood between Favre, the Packers and fans of the team subsided, and last summer, he was inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame. You taught us how to be men. “And I want you to know, Dad, I spent the rest of my career trying to redeem myself”.
“I believed that every game he played in, his team had an opportunity to win because of Brett Favre”, Wolf said this week. “It brings things together to realize, ‘You know you did do something with yourself'”.
“Ron Wolf is the single most important person to the Packers’ rebirth than any other person out there – player, coach, GM”, Favre said. Favre, who never thought he couldn’t complete a pass, had the National Football League career record in passing yards (71,838), completions (6,300), most 3,000-yard passing seasons (18) and touchdown passes (508) when he retired following the 2010 season after spending his career with the Atlanta Falcons, Packers, Vikings and New York Jets.
“Being real, authentic and spontaneous and loving the game was what it was all about”. He spent 2008 with the Jets.
And he just might not be done. Instead of concentrating on his role as a pioneer, he paid homage to those before him in a poignant and sometimes enthralling speech.
“I would not be here before you today without my father”. There he assembled one of the best defenses in recent history, and that group would end up winning the Super Bowl in 2002 – a year after the Bucs fired Dungy.
The Colts won at least 10 games in all seven seasons under Dungy. He also has a coaching tree that has featured Mike Tomlin, Herman Edwards, Jim Caldwell, Rod Marinelli, Leslie Frazier and Lovie Smith. Dungy went 139-69 in 13 seasons and is the first African-American coach to win a Super Bowl. Before that, he turned the Tampa Bay Buccaneers into a perennial title contender.
“I thought to myself, that’s a pretty good compliment”.
Wide receiver Marvin Harrison, another inductee, played all 13 of his seasons with the Colts and finished with 1,102 receptions, 14,580 yards and 128 touchdowns. He topped the 100-catch mark four straight times as Peyton Manning’s prime target.
He came full circle Saturday. “He was a wolf in sheep’s clothing”. He helped turn running back Marshall Faulk and quarterback Kurt Warner into NFL MVPs.
Like Harrison, he had memories of the Canton shrine, too, recalling visiting the hall when he was 13. “With my size and athletic ability, maybe God had destined me for something great”, Pace said.
Until that moment, Favre said, he had never thought about the Hall of Fame.
More humbling, he also has the most fumbles of any player, is the most sacked quarterback of all time and has the dubious honor of having thrown the most career interceptions.
“I am standing on the stage with the best ever”, he said, Terrible Towels waving in the crowd, Steelers fans cheering when he mentioned Blitzburgh. A first-round pick out of Ohio State in 1997, Pace was one of the key members of the team’s Greatest Show on Turf offense that was a key in the team’s Super Bowl XXXIV championship.
Stabler, who died past year, was elected by the Seniors Committee.
He was presented via video by Hall of Fame coach John Madden. He never told his father he heard his dad’s remark, but it stuck with him.
Stanfel, who died a year ago at age 87, also was a seniors committee selection.
Stanfel was a four-time Pro Bowler while playing with the Detroit Lions and the Washington Redskins during a career that spanned 1952-1958. Under Dungy, they made the playoffs four times before he was sacked after the 2001 season.
“I think he is the guard of the century”, said his presenter, Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy. He hired Bill Walsh as coach and drafted Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana.
“To share this stage with these wonderful gentlemen behind me is more than humbling”. “The lesson is we come and go very quickly, so love them each and every day”.
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DeBartolo Jr., who owned the San Francisco 49ers during their dynasty years in the 1980s, was the only honoree who did not play in the NFL. News stories displayed here appear in our category for Sports and are licensed via a specific agreement between LongIsland.com and The Associated Press, the world’s oldest and largest news organization.
