Keeping A Pulse on Favre

Former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Aug. 6, 2016. Public domain image.

As the National Football League prepares to enshrine its Class of 2016 into the Pro Football Hall of Fame at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio on Saturday, Aug. 6, the Peninsula Pulse reflects on its writings about one of those Hall of Fame inductees – former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre.

Miles and Myles of Brett Favre Love

It’s difficult to find a more diehard Brett Favre fan than Door County native and current Chicago resident Myles Dannhausen Jr. He followed the Brett Favre retirement saga closely in 2008 and recalls the denial he faced when his green-and-gold clad hero announced his retirement (the first time).

Once Favre changed his mind on retiring in July 2008 and the back-and-forth between Green Bay Packers’ management and the former quarterback began, Dannhausen Jr.’s opinion on the issue was heavily pursued. After weeks of silence, he finally weighed in on why denying Favre the chance the return made no sense.

As he prepared for the 2008-09 season with a new quarterback at the helm of the Pack, Dannhausen Jr. reflected on the many more good days people had in 16 years because of Brett Favre, including Dannhausen Jr.’s grandmother, who kept a poster of No. 4 (or as she called him, “my boyfriend”) on her wall and bid him goodnight each evening before bed.

No fan is more dependent on his team than the Packer fan, and no team has been more reliant on one man than the Packers on Favre. Even those who aren’t fans of football, aren’t fans of the Packers, smile when the subject turns to Favre. There is something eminently likable about him.

This week, Dannhausen Jr. wrote about what Favre meant to the Packers franchise, and listed his 18 moments that defined Favre’s career.

The Door County-Kiln Connection

Pete D’Amico poses with Brett Favre during Favre’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony at Lambeau Field in July 2015. Submitted.

Up there in the ranks of Brett Favre’s biggest fans is former Door County restaurateur Pete D’Amico, who over the past two decades has established connections with many residents of Favre’s hometown of Kiln, Mississippi. Naturally, those connections led to what has been a wonderful friendship with the Favre family and a strong bond between the residents of Door County and Kiln, thanks in part to D’Amico’s dedication to bringing Door County folks to Mississippi to clean up after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In 2013, Beantown Campground hosted a shrimp boil as a thank-you for the friendships they have developed with people of Door County.

“We were able to help 55 families back into their homes in 25 trips, and every one of those trips, Stevie cooked for us,” D’Amico said, referring to Stevie Haas, owner of the Broke Spoke (“official biker bar of the NFL”) in Kiln.

Thanks for the Memories

Some thought it may never happen but eventually time healed most wounds from Brett Favre’s retirement saga (and his subsequent trade to the New York Jets in 2008). It took Dannhausen Jr. three years before he was willing to spend money on Green Bay Packer merchandise after the entire ordeal, but when he finally did, he reveled in the joy of coming back to the Pack, despite an earlier lack of faith in quarterback Aaron Rodgers (who, two weeks after Dannhausen Jr.’s article published, led the team to their fourth Super Bowl and 13th NFL championship). That month also saw Favre’s final retirement from the NFL.

On Thanksgiving Day 2015, Brett Favre’s No. 4 was unveiled in the Lambeau Field Ring of Honor, marking the end of his storied career with the Packers and the end of a tradition between D’Amico and the Favre family:  Lambeau Field tailgate parties.

And on Aug. 6, the final honor for the legendary quarterback will be bestowed upon him:  entry into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.