You might think former NFL quarterback Brett Favre allegedly orchestrating the theft of millions of dollars from Mississippi’s poorest residents might damage his image in the Southern Mississippi University community.
Favre’s own text messages link him to a scheme involving the redirection of millions of dollars in welfare money toward various athletic department projects at Southern Miss, his alma mater and where his daughter attended college at the time.
But that’s not the case according to a report from Front Office Sports.
“Hero,” said Southern Miss alum David Ham when the outlet asked him about Favre. “He’s done many, many things for Southern Miss over the years since he retired. He’s a target of publicity by Shad White.”
Shad White is the Mississippi State auditor whose office unearthed the scandal involving more than $77 million in misspent welfare funds.
“My office just tells the truth about where taxpayer money went,” White said in a statement to FOS. “That’s it. I’m not going to sugarcoat the truth, even if the money went to someone famous, even if it makes some people angry.”
Ham wasn’t the only one to back Favre, either.
“I don’t think it’s the first time that he’s kind of been under fire for different things,” Carlisle said. “I think that his intent was something really good and viable for Southern Miss. He’s been asked at other times to help raise money, and I think that’s what he was doing.
“I don’t think Brett had a lot of the information that was gonna bring it to the situation that it has. He’s wanted to leave Southern Miss again better than he found it.”
A parent of a University of Louisiana Monroe football player, who was on Southern Miss campus for the game, backed Favre.
“I know celebrities are targeted,” Doug Wells said. “It happens when people are in the spotlight. I have always been a fan of Brett Favre. I might not be a Southern Miss fan today, but I’m a Brett Favre fan still.”
