188 A BICENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI BRETT FAVRE Professional football star Brett Favre was born in Gulfport in 1969. In 1987, Favre left his hometown of Kiln for the University of Southern Mississippi where he played as the starting quarterback for four years. He was drafted in the second round—33rd overall— in the 1991 National Football League Draft by the Atlanta Falcons and traded to the Green Bay Packers the following season. In week three, the Packers’s starting quarterback was injured, kicking off Favre’s impressive twenty-year record-breaking career. That season, Favre led the team to their second winning season in a decade. For eighteen straight seasons, Favre reached 3,000 yards passing, and he reached more than 4,000 yards passing in six of those eighteen seasons. In the late 1990s, he led the Packers to three straight NFC Championships and two Super Bowls, defeating the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI. In 2007— his last year at Green Bay—he surpassed Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino’s record as the career passing leader in attempts, completions, yards, and touchdowns. He played for the New York Jets in 2008 and the Minnesota Vikings from 2009 until his retirement in 2010. During his career, Favre was selected for the Pro Bowl eleven times. He was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016. PHOTO COURTESY OF SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI ATHLETICS