National, local sports reporters on Brett Favre: "Best player I ever covered -- best player in the history of the league"

GREEN BAY -- FOX6 News is remembering the career of Green Bay Packers legend Brett Favre, leading up to his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame Saturday, August 6th in Canton, Ohio. We asked those who covered his career -- both locally and nationally, what they recall about Favre, both on and off the field.

Pete Dougherty

"Pretty sure this would have been '93, which was my first year on the beat. I had to do the season preview cover story for our preview magazine," Pete Dougherty, Green Bay Press Gazette writer said. "He still was basically a nobody even though he had started in '92, and I remember asking him 'what are your goals?' And he said 'to be the best quarterback ever' and I remember thinking 'what is this guy talking about?' Because you could see talent -- but at that time, no one knew that this is going to be Brett Favre and the thing was, he meant it and one of the reasons he became one of the best ever is that he really, really wanted it."

D. Orlando Ledbetter

"He brought the Packers back -- him along with Reggie White, Ron Wolf and the whole posse, but you have to have a trigger man and he was the trigger man to restore the glory to Titletown," D. Orlando Ledbetter with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, former Journal-Sentinel Packers writer.

Hub Arkush

"It was the early part of his career when he strung those three MVP seasons together back-to-back-to-back. Nobody had ever done that before, so day one, end of the first year, no -- but well before his 30s there was a pretty good indication we were looking at one of the all time greats," Hub Arkush, Westwood One NFL sideline reporter, long-time Chicago Bears radio analyst said.

Peter King

"It's amazing to think back to 1995. That's the first time I went in. Mike Holmgren allowed me a rare window into an NFL team. I asked him if I could do a week in the life of the Green Bay Packers and so he said 'what does that mean?' And I said 'I want to be able to go anywhere the whole week if I can,' so the story basically started with Brett Favre getting out of bed on a Monday morning and asking Deanna if she could go get him a sausage sandwich at Hardees," Peter King, Sports Illustrated and MMQB.com.

"He was the constant presence -- the face of the Packers and for that 5, 6, 7-year stretch, the second half of the 90s, he was the best player in football and every time you were getting ready to play the Packers, you spend the first hour preparing your Brett Favre stuff and you spent the last half hour on the rest of the team," Arkush said.

"My overriding impressions are if there's really not one all those crazy plays him running around shrugging off tacklers throwing dart," Dougherty said.

"I just think most people who watched him over the years say 'that's the way I want to play. That's the way I want to emote. I wouldn't ever show up anyone else -- but if some guy sacks me, I'm going to get up and slap him right on the rear end.' He just played the game in a way that a lot fans wished they could play football," King said.

"So I asked him about 'what were worst plays?' And you know, there was a lot to pick from there and I think the one that ended up being the worst was when he, I don't know if it was the Philadelphia throw or he had a throw from his knees at Detroit that got intercepted. I can't remember if it was a Thanksgiving Day game or not. It was pretty early in his career -- probably like '93 or '94, and somehow he ended up on his knees and he saw somebody open and he said, 'I remember thinking this is going to be the greatest ever' and he throws it and one of the Lions linebackers picked it off," Dougherty said.

Brett Favre

"Personally, he's one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the NFL and I don't care about how many interceptions he's thrown. When you can sustain in this business as long as he did and at right at the end, play at high a level as he played, you are football immortality and you absolutely are Hall of Fame worthy," Paul Allen, Vikings radio play-by-play announcer.

"He's in the conversation for best player I ever covered -- best player in the history of the league. As far as one guy putting an NFL team on his back and contending the way they did, I think that, and of course, the iron-man streak is what's created as much respect for Brett Favre as any player that played in the last 40 years in pretty much every city in the league," Arkush said.

Brett Favre

Brett Favre is already considered a legend by every Packers fan -- and this weekend, he'll be recognized by all of pro football.

FOX6's Ted Perry and FOX6's Tim Van Vooren will be in Canton, Ohio as Favre is inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Watch for their reports beginning Wednesday, August 3rd.