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Gunslinger

Page 57

by Jeff Pearlman


  Valrie, Kerry, 54, 64–65, 90

  Vandross, Luther, 219

  Van Susteren, Greta, 315

  Verneil, Dick, 179

  Vestal, Ricky, 46

  Vikings, 152, 154, 175, 350–54

  Vinatieri, Adam, 223

  Vince, Donald, 44

  Vince Lombardi Trophy, 224

  Virginia Tech, 116

  Vitt, Joe, 363–64

  Vogler, Matt, 46

  W

  Wahle, Mike, 261

  Wainwright, Reed, 106

  Walker, Javon, 276, 377

  Walker, Sammy, 120

  Wallace, Seneca, 338

  Walls, Wesley, 276

  Walsh, Bill, 22, 152, 283

  Ware, Andre, 84

  Ware, DeMarcus, 357

  Warnsley, Reggie, 90

  Washington, Ben, 52, 88, 92

  Washington, Fabian, 285–86

  Washington, Ted, 95

  Washington Post, 167

  Washington Redskins, 135–37, 329

  Waterloo (Ontario) Chronicle, 352

  Waters, Ricky, 119

  Watkins, Billy, 92–93, 99, 102

  Watson, Jerry, 191–92, 227, 264

  Watters, Ricky, 218

  Watts, Toby, 58, 59–60, 90, 97

  Weaver, Mike, 67

  Webb, Joe, 369–70

  Webster, Corey, 305–6

  Weeks, Robbie, 52

  Weldon, Casey, 88

  Wendell Ladner Bowl, 35

  Werder, Ed, 316, 343

  West, Ed, 180

  West Coast offense, 153, 176, 347–48

  Weygand, Freddy, 79

  Whitcomb, John, 103–4, 108–9, 117

  Whitcomb, Skeebo, 103

  White, Jack, 45–47, 51, 52–53, 62–66, 67–68, 71

  White, Reggie, 164, 171–73, 176, 194, 231

  drug use and, 196

  hamstring injury, 240–41

  leadership of, 176–77

  locker room influence of, 211

  in movies, 245

  on Super Bowl, 199

  in Super Bowl parade, 226

  White, Sara, 172, 173, 196

  White, William, 180

  Whitley, David, 315

  Wied, Jason, 315, 317–18

  Wigley and Culp, 1

  Wilf, Zygi, 345, 365, 369

  Wilkins, Gabe, 240–41

  Williams, Alfred, 65, 76, 78, 90, 158

  Williams, Cadillac, 285

  Williams, Darrell, 50

  Williams, Gregg, 359, 360, 363–64

  Williams, Kerry, 58, 70

  Williams, Mark, 194

  Williams, Marty, 76, 79, 80

  Willis, Andrew, 24, 89

  Willis, Peter Tom, 88

  Wilner, Barry, 306

  Wilson, Eugene, 347

  Wilson, Robert, 99, 122–23, 126

  Winfield, Antoine, 346–47

  Wing-T offense, 21–22, 33–35

  Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 127

  Winston-Salem Journal, 280

  Winters, Frank, 171, 205, 218, 242, 315

  partying with Favre, 175, 189, 190, 213, 228, 256–57

  Wisconsin State Journal, 191, 337

  Wishom, Jerron, 296

  Wojciechowski, Gene, 363

  Wolf, Ron

  departure from Green Bay, 284

  on Favre, 229

  in Favre trade to Green Bay, 138

  Gagliano signed by, 195–96

  hired by Green Bay, 142–43

  relationship with Holmgren, 247

  on Rhodes, 250, 253

  scouting by, 113–14, 120–21, 125–26

  White recruited by, 172–73

  Wonderlic, 288

  Wood, Kim, 156

  Woodson, Rod, 161–62

  Woolley, Joe, 164

  Wootton, Corey, 370

  Workman, Vince, 159

  World Health Industries, 375–76

  Worthen, Naz, 133

  Wrangler, 375

  Wright, Randy, 144

  Wuerffel, Danny, 261

  Wyche, Sam, 279

  Wynn, DeShawn, 302, 304

  A Year of Champions (Brown), 226

  Y

  Yelle, Leo, 236

  Young, Ailrick, 48, 55, 56, 57–58, 60–62, 67–68, 72–73, 78

  Young, Steve, 121, 144, 174, 185, 244–45, 378

  Youngblood, Kenneth, 17–18

  Youngmisuk, Ohm, 340

  Z

  Zeno, Marc, 61

  Zolak, Scott, 244

  Zulgad, Judd, 356

  About the Author

  JEFF PEARLMAN is the New York Times best-selling author of seven books, including Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s; Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton; Boys Will Be Boys: The Glory Days and Party Nights of the Dallas Cowboys Dynasty; and The Bad Guys Won! He lives with this wife, Catherine, and two children, Casey and Emmett, in California and blogs regularly at www.jeffpearlman.com.

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  Footnotes

  * In his defense, Favre wrote nary a word of Favre: For the Record. The book was entirely the product of Chris Havel, a Green Bay media personality.

  [back]

  * * *

  * Hallman liked to tell people that he was the answer to the trivia question, “Who caught Kenny Stabler’s last college pass?” And while it was a trivia question no one ever thought to ask, the answer was, indeed, Curley Hallman, who intercepted Stabler twice for Texas A&M in the 1968 Cotton Bowl.

  [back]

  * * *

  * Interestingly, Whitcomb wore uniform No. 10, which Favre had been denied upon arriving at Southern Miss. With 139 players on the roster, numbers were at a premium, and past standards were set aside. In other words, Reggie Collier’s retired number was no longer retired.

  [back]

  * * *

  * The game was most memorable for the aftermath, when Mississippi State players—during a victory-lap walk around Scott Field—stopped in front of the Southern Miss fan section and taunted, according to Tim Doherty of the Hattiesburg American, “with graphic gestures emanating from body parts below the waist.”

  [back]

  * * *

  * Turner died of intestinal cancer in 2000, at age 31.

  [back]

  * * *

  * In a 2010 Esquire profile, Marinovich spoke with a group of children and introduced himself like this: “I was the first freshman in Orange County to ever start a varsity game at quarterback. I broke a lot of records. Then I chose to go to USC. We beat UCLA. We won a Rose Bowl. It’s quite an experience playing in front of a hundred thousand people. It’s a real rush. Everyone is holding their breath, wondering, What’s he gonna do next? After my third year of college, I turned pro. Here’s a name you’ll recognize: I was drafted ahead of Brett Favre in the 1991 draft.”

  [back]

  * * *

  * “Ken Herock said that about me?” said Glanville in 2015. “The only time that man tells the truth is when his lips don’t move.”

  [back]

  * * *

  * It was the only touchdown reception of Taylor’s career. Years later, Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times visited the wide receiver, who lives in Southern California. Taylor showed Farmer the ball, which was scuffed and bloated from years of bouncing it off the asphalt in front of his house. “I figured I was gonna catch a bunch of those in my life,” Taylor said, “and nobody would know who Brett Favre is.”

  [back]

  * * *

  * Until 1994, the Packers played three games every season at Milwaukee County Stadium.

  [back]

  * * *

  * Fact: No animal or insect releases more methane.

  [back]

  * * *

  * A good read that features one of the most tasteless chapter titles in the history of the written word. Camer
on named the segment on Favre’s near-death car accident “Say Hello to Mr. Tree.”

  [back]

  * * *

  * A few weeks later quarterback Steve Young and the 49ers agreed to a six-year, $45 million deal. And Favre was the second-highest-paid player.

  [back]

  * * *

  * Anderson was cut at the end of training camp in 1998.

  [back]

  * * *

  * The film also featured Pat Morita, Roosevelt Grier, and MC Hammer. Which means, while it was poorly received and minimally viewed, it remains the finest film to ever feature Pat Morita, Roosevelt Grier, and MC Hammer.

  [back]

  * * *

  * Hasselbeck (Seattle) and Brooks (New Orleans) both became Pro Bowl quarterbacks after leaving Green Bay.

  [back]

  * * *

  * The Packers were correct. Manning was drafted first overall, Rivers fourth, Roethlisberger 11th.

  [back]

  * * *

  * White died of a heart attack in 2004; Favre served as a pallbearer at his funeral. McMahon, Butler, and Winters had retired.

  [back]

  * * *

  * Baker University is in Baldwin City, Kansas. Mike McCarthy isn’t its only famous alum. Baker also brought the world Andrew Cherng, founder of Panda Express.

  [back]

  * * *

  * In an interview with Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Moss explained why he didn’t wind up a Packer: “It was like they were telling me that they’re going to take a chance on me, but if you do come here these are the things you have to work out: ‘Be on your best behavior; Donald Driver is the top receiver here so don’t come in there trying to step on his toes.’ Things like that.”

  [back]

  * * *

  * It can be noted here that Favre rarely voted, and would probably be an awful presidential candidate.

  [back]

  * * *

  * New York’s star that night was Brett Ratliff, a fringe quarterback who threw two touchdown passes. The lead to the ensuing ESPN.com story was, “A new quarterback named Brett threw two long touchdown passes for the New York Jets.”

  [back]

  * * *

  * Wrote Michael J. Lewis, the veteran newspaper scribe: “Only Ted Kennedy knew less about sports than Bloomberg.”

  [back]

  * * *

  * The best suggestion by far was to hold a halftime ceremony and retire the No. 4 jersey in honor of Chuck Fusina, a backup quarterback who, as No. 4, threw 32 passes in seven games for the 1986 Packers.

  [back]

  * * *

  * I asked Barnett about this privately via social media. He wrote: “I never went out of my way to hurt anyone. I play at 1 speed—hard as fuck! It doesn’t surprise me at all. I was in Puerto Rico that offseason and ended up running into [Viking running back] Michael Bennett and he was surprised about how chill I was. He said that they hated me over there because of how I played. So it wouldn’t surprise me if their coach would do something so classless as to pay someone to hurt me. I never was offered money to hurt anyone. I played football where the object is to be as physical as possible.”

  [back]

  * * *

  * Ayodele disputed this account via Twitter, writing, “I said NOTHING nobody on the team did I’m still trying to figure out this bounty what’s he talking bout?”

  [back]

  * * *

  * According to Deadspin, the material was supplied by a third party, not Sterger. The website paid $12,000 for the photographs and voice messages.

  [back]

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