When Brett Favre is inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, his better half will not only be standing by his side, supporting him, but also standing up before him, presenting the former Packers quarterback for the ceremony.
Favre announced on Tuesday that he’d chosen his wife, Deanna, for the honor of introducing him in Canton, Ohio, on Aug. 6. It’s only the second time that a wife will have presented her husband for enshrinement, the other occurring in 1998, with former Bears linebacker Mike Singletary and wife Kim.
"Deanna is the best teammate I've ever had," Favre said in a statement. "She has been by my side throughout this journey and I'm so excited that she gets to play such an important role for me."
Added Deanna: "Serving as Brett’s presenter is a great honor. I am thrilled to be able share this special moment in time with him."
The couple, who started dating in high school and were married in 1996, have stayed together through the ups and downs of Favre’s 20-year NFL career and his retirement. Deanna was by Brett’s side two decades ago when he publicly announced his addiction to alcohol and painkillers, for which he went to rehab, and she stuck by him in 2010 during an NFL investigation into Favre allegedly sexting and leaving inappropriate voicemails for a female Jets employee. They have two children, daughters Brittany and Breleigh.
Brett Favre was an 11-time Pro Bowler, three-time MVP and Super Bowl XXXI winner who played 16 seasons with the Packers and owns numerous NFL records, including most career pass completions, most career pass attempts and most consecutive starts by a player. Last year, Favre was inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame and his No. 4 jersey has been retired by the team.
Some thought there was a chance former Packers general manager Ron Wolf, the man credited with bringing Favre to Green Bay and building the championship team, would be the quarterback’s presenter.
On Tuesday, Aaron Rodgers told reporters he plans to attend the ceremony in Canton, a day before the Packers play the Colts in the preseason Hall of Fame Game, to support the quarterback he replaced as Green Bay’s starter in 2008.
"I was thinking about who else would want to go to Favre’s induction, and no one else here has played with him," Rodgers said, adding that he was excited for Brett to be introduced by Deanna.
"I just saw his wife is going to do the induction speech, that’s got to be a great feeling right there for him," Rodgers said. "It’s fun. To be able to be out there and to see him put that jacket on is going to be really special. To join the ranks of the greatest players in our sport of all time is pretty amazing, and I’m really happy for him."
Brett and Deanna Favre aren’t the only ones with Green Bay connections going into the Hall of Fame. Longtime Steelers linebacker Kevin Greene, who was later the Packers’ outside linebackers coach, will be presented for induction by Dom Capers, his former head coach and currently Green Bay’s defensive coordinator.
Here are the other honorees and presenter’s for this year’s ceremony: Edward J. Debartolo Jr. (Lisa DeBartolo, daughter), Tony Dungy (Donnie Shell, former teammate), Marvin Harrison (Jim Irsay, Indianapolis Colts owner), Orlando Pace (Justin Pace, son), Ken Stabler (John Madden, Hall of Fame coach) and Dick Stanfel (Marv Levy, Hall of Fame coach).
Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.
After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.
Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.
