Pick players from the Backyard Kids and 10 kid-versions of real NFL players. Backyard Football 2002. Junior Seau, Donovan McNabb, Drew Bledsoe, Cade McNown and Brett Favre Choose from 31. Pick players from the Backyard Kids and 10 kid-versions of real NFL players. Backyard Football 2002. Junior Seau, Donovan McNabb, Drew Bledsoe, Cade McNown and Brett Favre Choose from 31.

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Like always, ol’ No. 4 plans to wing it during his Hall of Fame induction weekend, just as he approached the game on autumn Sundays. Nothing seemed scripted in the life and times of Brett Favre, the improvisational, fun-loving, iron-man throwback quarterback who decimated the record books and revitalized a moribund Green Bay Packers’ franchise during his 20-year NFL career.

Favre, who at 46 remains an imposing figure, was not born to be a football player. Instead, he was involuntarily hammered into something timeless and virtually indestructible. His industrial-strength mold – an old-school amalgamation of Jim Thorpe’s ruggedness, Johnny Unitas’ leadership and John Elway’s arm strength -- was forged in blast furnace-hot Bayou summers under the scrutiny of his hard-nosed, no-nonsense high school football coach.

That man was his father, Irv Favre, the most non-malleable man his son knew.

While mutual love was evident, the sports thing got in the way, as it sometimes does in father-son relationships. Bittersweet memories haunted Favre for years. He never thought what he did to prepare was enough but those self-doubts drove him to become one of the game’s most accomplished quarterbacks.

“It was self-induced – it never was good enough. Never,’’ the two-time Super Bowl and three-time league MVP quarterback told USA TODAY Sports during a two-hour interview near his 465-acre estate in rural Mississippi. “It could be workouts or practice – why didn’t I complete every pass? I was so hard on myself. That started at a young age. It probably started with my dad pushing and pushing.’’

Without Irv Favre, it is safe to proclaim Brett Favre would not have had a bronze bust cast in his image. Pickup truck-tough and ultra-proud, Irv imbued his middle son with many of his personality traits, including a peerless work ethic and a mule-stubborn determination not to play second fiddle to anyone.

On the eve of Favre’s enshrinement Saturday into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, Favre said he plans to speak extemporaneously from the heart -- the one he always wore on his shoulder pads. Regrettably, the man who always planned to introduce him – heck, Irv lobbied his son for years to ensure it would be his big moment, too – suffered a heart attack and died while driving near the family’s home in Kiln, Miss., in 2003. He was 58.

“He would come up (to Green Bay) and ride with me in the truck over to the stadium,’’ says Favre. “He would be doing local radio shows and drinking beer. He wanted to be in the in-crowd. But he never thought of taking care of himself. It was, ‘I’m tough.’ I would try and try to get him to take a physical (with Packers’ team doctors). He would say, ‘Ah, hell. I ain’t gettin’ no damn physical.’ There was a short time after he passed away when I felt really guilty because I didn’t make him. Now, would a physical have saved him? I don’t know. But I would’ve like that chance.’’

Brett Favre Football Reference

The father of two daughters, and a grandfather of two, Favre is skittish as his induction grows near.

“In the NFL, there always was next week. With this speech, you have only one shot – there are no do-overs,’’ says Favre. “They won’t say, ‘Brett, you kinda screwed up, come back next year.’ So there is pressure. I’m OK with that. I don’t think it will be a breeze and, honestly, I don’t know if I want it to be that easy. I want it to be authentic, much like I played. With (my) nervousness, I just want to make sure I do it justice.’’

His wife, Deanna, will introduce her husband. The Favres were high-school sweethearts at Hancock North, where Irv was head football coach. The day following Irv’s death, Favre did the unfathomable when he passed for 311 yards and four touchdowns in the first half of a Monday night game.

“This (Hall of Fame ceremony) is what he lived for – this would have been Dad’s, ‘I am going out with a bang’ speech,’’ Favre said. “I used to dread (public) speaking. But as a high school football coach, that was his wheelhouse. I’d sit at banquets and think, ‘How does he do it?’ ’’

Brett’s mother, Bonita Favre, expects her son to become emotional when he talks about his father. “I don’t know what (Irv) would tell him but he definitely would give him advice – that never stopped,’’ she said. “He even tried coaching him when he played in the NFL.’’

Farve plans to also acknowledge former Green Bay executive Ron Wolf and three Packers’ coaches – head coach Mike Holmgren, plus assistants Steve Mariucci and Andy Reid. Wolf traded for Favre in 1992 after the quarterback’s disastrous rookie season in Atlanta. All were supportive on the field and off – even Holmgren, whose patience for Favre’s freewheeling, sometimes-reckless style sometimes left him red in the face. The support was particularly strong during Favre’s fight to overcome addiction to alcohol and prescription pills.

By the time he retired from the Minnesota Vikings following the 2010 season, Favre was No. 1 in NFL history with 71,838 yards and 508 touchdowns, league records. Not too shabby for a quarterback who received only one college scholarship offer (Southern Mississippi, his alma mater), who could laugh at himself as he did when the NFL mispronounced his name as “Brett Favor’’ on draft day in 1991. (“I let (slights like) that motivate me. It was a trait that was one of my greatest assets,’’ Favre said.)

He starred for 16 seasons in Green Bay but, remarkably, he delivered his most prolific season at age of 40 playing for the Vikings and was voted to his 11th Pro Bowl. Favre passed for 4,202 yards, along with 33 TDs and seven interceptions and a QB rating of 107.2. The Vikings and their graybeard quarterback came within a whisker of the Super Bowl, losing the NFC Championship Game to the New Orleans Saints. Favre absorbed a vicious beating in the game.

“I remember saying to him, ‘Why did you keep getting up?’ “ his mother said. “He said, ‘I wasn’t going to let them carry me off.’ ’’

Of course, Favre also was the league’s unofficial leader in melodrama and indecisiveness when it came to retirement. To the end, his exuberance, hyper-competitiveness and high tolerance for pain made one of the most-popular athletes of his time. Favre elevated the play of his teammates and played the game with the unbridled joy of a boy frolicking in his backyard.

Backyard Football Brett Favre Stats

“If you’re a football fan, how can you not love Brett Favre, a guy with all that fun and passion?’’ said Nevil Barr, the former Oak Grove High (Miss.) football coach whose team won the Class 6A championship in 2013 with Favre working as an assistant coach in his second and final season. “He is a very positive, uplifting person. If you are around him every day, you see it.’’

Barr, 63, laughed when he reminisced about his recruitment of the NFL superstar after the head coach’s offensive coordinator unexpectedly quit. The coach began the conversation by saying, “Brett, I really need you.’’

“I told him the job was (time-consuming). (Eventually), he said, ‘Now, how much are you gonna pay me?’ I said, ‘Nothing.’ He told me he would think about it. The next day, he said, ‘Nevil, let me get this straight: You want me to be there every day watching film, (coaching kids), every Sunday, too ... and you’re not going to pay me anything?’ I said, ‘That’s right.’

“Brett said, ‘Well, that sounds like a good deal to me. I’m gonna take it.’ '

Favre possessed a “humble confidence that our kids fed on,’’ Barr said.

“I could tell he loved those kids,’’ Barr said. “He would ask for their opinions; he showed them respect. He would coach up the second- and third-teamers as hard as the first group. That’s the mark of great coaching. He also was tough and demanded accountability. But you could tell he had fun with those kids. I knew Brett would help make them into good men and give them a great experience.’’

FAVRE'S TOUCHDOWNS: Check out career database

These days, Favre does the same for his daughter Breleigh, 17, who plans to play intercollegiate volleyball in 2017. “I have a verbal warning that pops up on my phone every day. It says: ‘Encourage your daughter rather than criticize,’ ’’ he said. “What was lacking when I was growing up was positive reinforcement.’’

Favre’s childhood often was a tale of tumult, and bumps and bruises – physical and psychological. Everyone knew Brett respected, and/or feared, his dad. With a flattop haircut and deep voice, Irv was the epitome of authoritarian rule. He wasn’t easy on any of his three sons, including Scott and Jeff, all of whom played quarterback for him. Bonita says her husband once admonished her: “You better never come on that field,’’ and told his boys, “If you get hurt, and you can’t walk off, crawl off. If you can’t crawl off, I’ll come get you.’’

Brett recalled his father being “short on praise, long on tough love. ‘’

“He did not have much sympathy for anybody -- regardless of what it was,’’ he said. “I don’t want to say he was negative but (he) was of a different generation. Whuppings were common. I got my ass tore up all the time; probably deserved every one. He’d whip first, then try to figure out (the source of the problem) later: ‘OK, now who was wrong?’ ’’

On the field, Irv’s wishbone offense afforded scant opportunity to show off his sons’ arms, particularly Brett’s peerless, if often erratic, cannon. His massive mitts and a raw-boned frame enabled him to whistle a football 75 yards through the air. Still, Irv refused to showcase him for college recruiters. “They’d say, ‘We’d like to see Brett throw it a little bit tonight,’ ’’ Scott said. “Dad would say, ‘Well, you better show up for pre-game then.’ ’’

Favre rarely threw more than a half-dozen passes a game. One evening, with victory predictably in hand, Brett pleaded with his brother Scott on the sidelines: “I wish Dad would let me throw more. Why don’t you talk to him?’’

The eldest son gulped hard. He did his younger brother’s bidding.

“Dad, why don’t you open it up and let Brett throw a little bit?’’ Scott asked. “He looked at me and said, ‘Why don’t you get in the stands and sit with your mother?’ I walked back to Brett and said, ‘You’re on your own, big guy.’ ’’

Brett recalled a family photograph where he is wearing a football helmet – his big Christmas present as a 3-year-old. “I didn’t have a chance’’ not to play football, he said quietly.

“Dad and I rode home every day from practice. It never was, ‘Hey, son, how was school today?’ I would say, ‘Dad, can we stop and get a root beer?’ He would say, ‘I’ll root beer your ass.’ Here I am 17. I think back now and he talked to me like I was 8. Maybe I deserved it, I don’t know. But there never was a poignant moment, like, ‘I am really proud of you.’ Never. I say that with no animosity. He was extremely tough on me. I didn’t know what positive was. But no matter what he said, I never said, ‘The hell with it, I ain’t gonna do it.’ ’’

The son persevered and, eventually, prospered. He knows he would not grace the stage in Canton if not were not for his father. He also understands that age has provided him with more than just gray hair.

“At 17 years old, I thought I knew it all,’’ Favre said. “At 21, I was certain I knew it all. Then, at 40, I realized I didn’t know jack-s--- when I was 21. At 46, I’m like, ‘Who do you think you were fooling at 40? You ain’t much brighter.’ I can only imagine what 10 years from now will bring. Dad never was much on, ‘Well, son, let’s analyze this or that.’ In this case, I think he would say to me (about my acceptance speech), ‘Get your ass up there and do it, son.’ ’’

Follow Jon Saraceno on Twitter @jonnysaraceno.

PHOTOS: Brett Favre's career