ESPN: Brett Favre wishes ‘Big Irv’ could be his presenter

NFL and Mississippi football legend Brett Favre has yet to reveal his presenter for his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction on Aug. 6, but he said Tuesday that the obvious choice would have been the man affectionately known as “Big Irv.”

His father, Irvin Favre, died of a heart attack on Dec. 21, 2003, at the age of 58.

“My dad would have been, he definitely would have been doing it,” Favre said Tuesday according to ESPN.com. “And I’ll talk about that during the induction. But you’re right. Had he been around, he would be doing it.”

Brett Favre's fans remember well how he responded to his father's death. The next night, he threw for 399 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Green Bay Packers to a 41-7 win over the Oakland Raiders in a Monday night contest.

Irvin Favre served has his son's high school football coach at Hancock North Central High School, running a wishbone offense. He was a high school coach for 28 years before stepping down in 1994.

Favre was on a golf course with three teammates (Josh Bidwell, Ryan Longwell and Doug Pederson) when he found out about his father's death.

“Doug’s cell phone rang and it was (Brett’s wife) Deanna saying that his dad had passed,” Longwell said in an interview with ESPN.com last year. “Just the four of us there in the middle of nowhere, so far from home, and huddling together and praying. It still gives me chills now. To go through that situation and then immediately flip the switch to 'we have to care for our friend,' to 'this is an A-list superstar that we have to get back to the hotel without anyone knowing.' I was just blessed to be around him a lot of those times that life hits you with a curve ball. I was just blessed to be there.”

Former Packers general manager Ron Wolf is a good candidate to be the Southern Miss product's presenter at the Hall of Fame ceremony.

Favre talked with ESPN.com Tuesday about how Wolf convinced Packers team doctors to allow him to pass the physical despite some concern about a hip injury after he was acquired from the Atlanta Falcons in 1992.

“The debt of gratitude, with or without that scenario, is forever payable,” Favre said Tuesday. “I’ve told Ron that over and over again. In fact, (I) had a conversation with him last night. We’re both always so thankful to each other. You’d think we’d get over that at some point. It’s really a wonderful story.

“In his case, sticking your neck out there at a time when you just got a new job at a historic and traditional franchise like the Packers. Boy, what a gamble. I’m forever thankful for that and I know he has said over and over to me how thankful he is that it worked out, obviously.”

This story was originally published July 19, 2016 at 2:31 PM with the headline "ESPN: Brett Favre wishes ‘Big Irv’ could be his presenter."