University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Four Favre Memories: Vic Purvis
8/3/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The Southern Miss athletics department will interview Golden Eagle family members about their favorite memories of Brett Favre as No. 4 enters the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday. Vic Purvis, a Southern Miss quarterback great and longtime radio color commentator, has eight words that summarize the Favre legacy.
"We will never have another one like him."
Nobody gets a second chance to make a first impression, and that rang true early in Favre's Southern Miss career. Purvis, a 2006 Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame inductee, drove in from Jackson to watch a scrimmage and sit with broadcaster John Cox, who knew the team inside and out.
"Favre was the third quarterback to get in," Purvis said. "I remember when he jogged out onto the field, he wasn't loose and real choppy. We ran a lot of option offense, and he didn't look like the more smoother quarterbacks needed for that role."
But until Favre had thrown his first pass, it was not a first impression; just a glance.
"It was about third-and-16 or something like that, and they ran this post pattern," Purvis said. "He goes back in the pocket and with no real big motion, he puts the ball right on top of his helmet. The wide receiver's arms almost flew up because of the pace of the ball.
"That ball was 20 or 25 yards and the linebackers didn't even break because of the speed. I asked John if he had seen that pass, and he said, 'well, they say he's got a good arm.' I had played against Joe Namath and people like that, and I had never seen that before."
Favre's sophomore season produced an even more incredible moment that also came on a much bigger stage. The Golden Eagles were playing at East Carolina on Sept. 24, 1988. Southern Miss was 45 yards away from the end zone, trailing 42-38 with seconds remaining. The play was meant to be a curl to the right, but turned out to be anything but that. Favre ultimately wound up and rifled a diagonal pass the width of the field all the way down to Alfred Williams, a speedy receiver from Meridian, at the 10-yard line. The Golden Eagles scored moments later for the 45-42 win.
Purvis recalls the famous reaction from Rick Cleveland, then the Southern Miss beat writer, who came into the booth and yells he had never seen a pass like that. Williams' quotes after the game led to the immortal name, "The Pass That Hummed."
"I swear the ball was never over my head," Williams said postgame. "I heard the ball humming about five yards away from me. I swear I'm not joking."
Purvis was quick to point out that he too could throw it about 50 yards in his prime, but he would have had to throw it as high as he could too. The Favre pass was not only 30 yards vertically, but also across the width of the field.
"We will never have another one like him."
The ceremony for Favre's induction will be televised live on ESPN at 6 p.m. CT Saturday from Canton, Ohio.
