Favre: It was a perfect fit

Brett Favre Retirement Press Conference: March 6, 2008

Favre: It was a perfect fit

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Quarterback revitalized team; united fans, Green Bay, state
By Tony Walter
twalter@greenbaypressgazette.com March 9, 2008
The reaction to Brett Favre's retirement this week was final proof that the union of a Midwestern community and a southern Mississippi athlete had become more than a marriage of convenience.

It was a sports phenomenon.When a Green Bay Packers quarterback announces that he will end his playing career after 16 seasons with the team and many of his devotees respond with tears, it is obvious that new ground has been broken in a region that has made professional football part of its identity, and Favre part of its family.

"Green Bay became cool again because of him," said Kevin Quinn, St. Norbert College associate professor of economics.

But it was more than that.

Winning was a major ingredient to Favre's popularity, particularly when his arrival and eventual success ended the two-decade Packers existence in the NFL wilderness. So was his support of charities, one of the ways he gave back to a community that provided his riches.

But it was still more than that.

Other quarterbacks have been winners, and other football players have done community service. But none seemed to capture such national attention when he retired, and it's hard to find a player who resonated with a community of fans as well as Favre did.

Favre's success led to economic success for many.

"When you consider that Brett's play translated to victories and more playoff games, that put money in the coffers," said former Green Bay Mayor Paul Jadin, now president of the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce. "He was a significant part of the economy here."

Bruce Hawley turned Tanner's Grill & Bar in Kimberly into a sports bar in 1992, the same year Favre was traded to the Packers.

"The fact that he was here definitely helped our business," Hawley said. "We rode that wave up."

Without Favre, there might not have been any Super Bowls for the Packers in the '90s, and that would have had an impact on the Brown County referendum seeking a sales-tax hike to renovate Lambeau Field in 2000.

But voters agreed to fund the renovation and Lambeau Field became The House That Favre Built. The team's following swelled too, with the waiting list for season tickets increasing from 12,000 in 1992 to about 78,000 today.

The team's exposure exploded on the national scene, with Favre's No. 4 jersey becoming the top-selling NFL jersey of all-time, according to NFL Properties. The Packers were chosen for more nationally televised games as Favre's fame grew.

The Wisconsin Department of Tourism benefited.

"Brett Favre and the legendary Green Bay Packers are a part of what Wisconsin is all about," said Sarah Klavas, director of integrated communications and marketing for the department. "He helped put Wisconsin on the national tourism map and gave us many reasons to roll out the green and gold carpet for fans from other states."

But the Favre phenomenon was even more than that, and it was Favre who put his finger on it at the news conference to announce his retirement on Thursday.

When asked to explain his unique relationship with fans, he said: "If I had to guess, I would say, and I hear this from time to time, he's like one of us. Well, I am. I just play professional football. …

"When I laughed and when my family laughed, they (fans) laughed. When I cried, they cried. When I cheered, they cheered … it was a perfect fit for me."

It was a fit that didn't go unnoticed here.

"From Brett's perspective, rural Mississippi was like rural Wisconsin, except for the crops, the accents and the poisonous snakes," said Kelly Wolff, vice president of Georgia-Pacific Corp. in Green Bay. "He was treated as if he lived in the same community. That's why it's like we've lost our community high school's athletic star."

Favre's personality played well here — the playfulness and the resistance to stardom's trappings.

"You can find gifted athletes in a lot of different sports," said Susan Finco, who runs a Green Bay public relations firm and is a member of the board of directors of the Green Bay Packers.

"But it's hard for them to relate and be one of the regular Joes. They (fans) feel Favre is one of them and say 'come over and sit in the backyard and look at the lawn mower I bought.' He's a star but he has never lived or acted in a way people usually attribute to stars. People have grown up with him."

That growth included speed bumps both on the field and off. There were interceptions that had many grinding their teeth, and there was the addiction to a painkiller that reminded everyone of Favre's vulnerability.

Quinn said Favre's fame reminded him of golfer Arnold Palmer, who was known for his skills but also for his charisma that included taking chances, and sometimes failing.

"Everyone in the country has some sense of ownership with him because of that," Quinn said.

Favre also went through family tragedies and illnesses that gave him an "everyman" quality, showing that he was hardly exempt from life's problems just because he could throw a football. The death of his father and brother-in-law as well as his wife's battle against breast cancer gave the Packers community reasons to wrap its arms around Favre.

Favre's commitment to his job and his toughness earned him the respect of everyone in this blue-collar community — from management to laborers. People here believe in a strong work ethic and like to be associated with a quarterback who starts 253 consecutive regular-season games and gave each play his all.

"I never took a play off," he said Thursday.

Carol Denil, a former Green Bay resident now living in Boulder City, Nev., said Favre will forever be connected to Green Bay and Lambeau Field.

"His name is synonymous with Green Bay," she wrote in an e-mail. "No matter where we've been with our Packer hats, jackets, T-shirts or sweatshirts, we are greeted with 'Hey, go Green Bay and Brett Favre.'"