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Brett Favre's father dies after suffering heart attack
The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.) BILOXI, Miss. - Irvin Favre, longtime Hancock North Central High School football coach and father of Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre, died Sunday afternoon of a heart attack or stroke while driving his pickup truck. He was 58. The heart attack or stroke happened after he left Favre's on the Bayou, a family-owned restaurant in Kiln, Miss. "It's just a shock to us," Scott Favre, his son, said Sunday night. "Nobody knows what to think right now." The visitation and funeral services are set for Tuesday although the times have not been finalized. The family indicated that three-time NFL MVP Brett Favre will play on Monday night against the Raiders in Oakland. They had encouraged Brett, who has an NFL record 204 consecutive starts at quarterback, to play in the game. Irvin Favre drove off Mississippi 603 at 5:23 p.m. near Kiln. Favre ran into a ditch, said Sgt. Joe Gazzo of the Mississippi State Highway Patrol. ``It didn't appear that the accident was serious enough to cause him to be unconscious, so that leads us to believe that a medical condition was what caused him to go off the road,'' Gazzo said. Irvin Favre was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. An autopsy will be performed on Monday. ``First, the witnesses, then the ambulance, and then at the hospital they tried to revive him,'' Gazzo said. ``It's going to be a great loss to the community, he was a great guy.'' Irvin Favre enjoyed great success as a baseball and football coach on the Coast. As a coach, he guided St. John High School to its only state championship in baseball in 1970. He coached for 28 years, 24 years in the Hancock County School System. He resigned in 1994 after turning the Hancock football program into a contender for South State honors. When he arrived at Hancock North Central in 1970, the Hawks were better known for their boys basketball program. "At Hancock, we came from nothing to being respectable and I know that I am leaving the Hancock football program in good shape," Favre said in 1994 when he offered his resignation to the school board. He coached his sons Scott, Brett and Jeff at Hancock North Central in Kiln, Miss., and they all played quarterback. Brett went onto star at Southern Miss, and after a brief stint at Atlanta, has been a three-time MVP quarterback with the Packers. Favre returned to coaching with the Mississippi Fire Dogs, an indoor minor league football team that played in the Coast Coliseum. He coached the 17-1 Fire Dogs to the 2001 National Indoor Football League championship, defeating Wyoming 55-21. Favre graduated from Gulfport High School in 1963. He played baseball at Southern Miss, lettering in 1966-67. |
Brett = Hall of Fame His father = Heaven's gain