Favre talked about the importance of his family, and particularly his father, when he was inducted Saturday.
The biggest name of the Class of 2016 Pro Football Hall of Fame was also the final member inducted Saturday night in Canton, Ohio. Brett Favre, a prolific quarterback who set numerous records in his 20-year career, was elected into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
Favre said prior to the ceremony that he hadn't prepared a speech, and in classic Favre style, he just planned to wing it. He opened by joking about maybe coming out of retirement for the Hall of Fame game on Sunday.
"I'm going to ask Mike McCarthy and Ted Thompson if I can play the first series tomorrow night," he said. "All this excitement's got me wanting to call Ed Werder and spread the word again."
Believe me, I'm blessed. I'm an extremely blessed man. I look at my family -- what a lucky man, to play a game that I love so much for 20 years, to have all of the wonderful things happen, what a blessing."
Favre described an experience he had with his father and brother, watching the Saints' last regular season game of the 1983 season, and seeing Kenny Stabler running out of the tunnel and intuitively knowing that's what he wanted to become.
That was also the night he met his wife, Deanna. They've been together ever since.
"She's as beautiful today as she was in December 1983 in my living room," Favre said.
Favre's daughters were on hand, along with his son-in-law and two grandsons.
"Love them while you can. They grow up quickly," Favre said of his daughters, Brittany and Breleigh, noting that he's glad both of his daughters take after their mother.
Favre said his mother-in-law, who was also present to celebrate with him, has been one of his biggest supporters throughout his career.
"I've never thrown an interception that was my fault, according to my mother-in-law, Ann," Favre said.
Favre's own mother, who is recovering from a hip replacement, practiced what she preached to Favre throughout his life by being there for his induction.
"My mother taught me that being there for your children is absolutely important," Favre said.
Favre also thanked his siblings and his longtime agent, Bus Cook, saying he was reluctant to call him his agent, because Cook is family to Favre, also.
He transitioned to talking about his father, Irv, and he became very emotional. He described his dad as being "short on praise," saying that he always pushed Favre to get better.
It had been his father's dream to introduce Favre on the day that he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. When he learned this after his father's passing, that became Favre's new goal.
"I said to myself, I will make it to the Hall of Fame," Favre said. "That I would make it to the Hall of Fame so I could acknowledge the fact of how important he was."
Trying to not break down, Favre added, "This is harder than any third and 15, I can assure you."
Favre's father shaped him as a player and taught him one of the most important lessons one can learn in football -- that no player was ever more important than the team.
"I would not be here before you today without my father. There's no doubt, whatsoever."
Favre's father was his head football coach, and he shared an anecdote about sitting outside the coaches' office waiting for his father to drive him home, and he overheard his father talking about him to the other coaches.
"I can assure you one thing about my son," his father said. "He will play better. He will redeem himself. He has it in him."
Favre never forgot it.
"I want you to know, Dad, that I spent the rest of my career trying to redeem myself," Favre said, fighting back tears. "I hope I succeeded."
He spent most of his career with the Green Bay Packers, and praised Ron Wolf for his fundamentally important contributions to the franchise's success.
"As I like to say, Ron Wolf made it cool to come to Green Bay," Favre said.
Favre also acknowledged Mike Holmgren, commending him for leaving San Francisco to come to Green Bay and "getting stuck with Brett Favre."
"I am so thankful that Mike chewed my ass, but believed enough in me to give me another chance," Favre said. "Because there were many times he could have, and should have pulled me, and had he done that, there's probably someone else standing here before you talking."
Favre is one of the most well-known gunslingers in NFL history, and was the first quarterback in NFL history to pass for 500 touchdowns, throw for more than 70,000 yards, 6,000 completions and 10,000 pass attempts. He has the most career pass completions, most career pass attempts and most consecutive starts by a player.
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. Then again, he played in the league for two decades and was known as a player who took risks.
They didn't always pay off, but they helped him win a Super Bowl with the Packers in 1997. Favre had more than a dozen productive seasons after that. He was named to 11 Pro Bowls, was an All-Pro six times, league MVP three times, and led the league in passing touchdowns four times and passing yards twice.
Favre became known a lot more for his wavering late in his career, most notably in 2008 when the Packers made the decision to move on to Aaron Rodgers in the span of time between Favre retiring and then changing his mind to continue playing. The result was Favre switching teams to the New York Jets, where he spent a year before joining the Minnesota Vikings.
Even in the twilight of his career, Favre found some success on the stat sheet with those teams, including leading the Vikings, a major rival of the Packers, to an NFC North title in 2009.
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. In Canton, his Hall of Fame locker will display both a Packers and Vikings No. 4 jersey.
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