How I Got My Brett Favre Autographed Football

My father used to be active in the Shriners, and is a big football fan. Since we live in the San Francisco Bay Area, he would often buy tickets to go the East-West Shrine Game, which was usually played at Stanford Stadium, though other venues in the Bay Area had been used as well.  For those unaware, the East-West Shrine Game is the oldest collegiate all-star game, and the second oldest post-season football game (after the Rose Bowl).  Proceeds from the game go to the Shriners Hospitals for Children as well as other philanthropic causes supported by the Shriners. After going to the games a number of years, we decided to buy tickets to the special luncheon that is held in honor of the game and its participants.  The lunch was scheduled in the middle of the week a few days before the game.  The luncheon was always in a fancy hotel banquet room, served sit-down style, and emcee'd by a local sports media personality such as a sports news anchor or a sports talk-show host.  Along with the emcee at the head table were the head coaches, assistant coaches, and top Shriner officials.  Each of the players sat at one of the tables with the paid guests, so we got to talk with some of them while eating lunch.  They usually gave the players matching sweaters to wear (e.g. blue for the West, red for the East), and I remember one year I just happened to be wearing a similar blue sweater as one of the teams, and a kid came up to me and asked me for my autograph.  Mind you, I was about 30 at the time, so it made my day!  Another funny thing was one year when our table had two players, one from Florida and the other from Florida State.  There was quite a bit of not-entirely good-natured trash talking going on during that lunch....

At the end of the lunch and all of the pomp, they would raffle off footballs, about 20 of them. These footballs were special two-toned balls with the East-West insignia, and signed by each player on both teams. As luck would have it, I won two consecutive years, so I gave the second autographed football to my dad. As it so happened, a couple of year later, HE won one, so he gave it to my brother who couldn't come. I kept the programs each of the years we won footballs so we could track some of the players on the ball, though both the ball I won and the program from that year both ended up on a shelf in the closet. Every once in a while, though, I would take the program down to see if I recognized any of the players. Keep in mind that the East-West Shrine Game didn't attract many top-tier collegiate players; those players tended to go to the Hula Bowl and Senior Bowl games. So most of the players on the East-West rosters never made it to the NFL. That is, until one day when I was looking at the rosters (not having looked at it for a few years), and there was Brett Favre's name!  Of course, his name was ALWAYS there, but he wasn't a well known star quarterback yet the last time I had checked the names in the program.  Quickly, I got the ball out to see if I could find his name.  I looked and looked, and was starting to think that maybe he didn't show up when the balls were signed, or maybe his signature was illegible, smudged, or otherwise useless.  Finally, after pouring over every inch of the ball through dozens of names, there it was, plain as day:  "Brett Favre - #4".  Not only was he pretty much the only player to establish himself in the NFL, he becomes a Super Bowl winner, MVP, and sure-fire Hall of Famer to boot.

I had the ball appraised a few years back, and the guy said it would be worth about $500.  Favre has tarnished his image a bit the last couple of years, but I'm sure once he's enshrined in the Hall of Fame, the ball will only get more valuable with each passing year. Wouldn't it be great to have your own piece of  football memorabilia from your favorite team or one of your favorite players? Something to display proudly in your home, as well as being a great investment?  Click on the banners on this page, or go  the NFL page, or the NCAA page to see more.