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Brett Favre comes for a visit

by Ken Luchterhand of the Chronicle

Any true Packer fan dreams about meeting quarterback Brett Favre. It would even be more extraordinary to have Brett Favre come into your home.

Al and Nancy McCoy can proudly say they were hosts to three Green Bay Packer players.

" I' m still bouncing off the ceiling," McCoy said.

Brett Favre, Doug Pederson and Wesley Walls made a trip to McCoy' s woodlands to make an attempt to bag a buck on Oct. 17. The Packer players also stopped for a visit inside the McCoy' s house.

" It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Nancy said.

The McCoys knew someone was coming to hunt deer on their property that day, but they had no idea who they might be.

The McCoys own a farm on Highway B near Cataract. Fort McCoy was named after Al' s grandfather.

Favre, 34, is quarterback, Pederson, 35, is backup quarterback and Walls, 37, is tight end for the Packers.

All three men are from the Louisiana-Mississippi region, with Favre graduating from Southern Mississippi, Pederson from Northeast Louisiana and Walls from University of Mississippi.

John Dudley, professional archer and salesman with Mathew' s Inc. in Sparta, had hunted on McCoy' s property several times. About four weeks prior to the Packer players' arrival, Dudley asked Al McCoy if it was alright to bring in some celebrities to hunt on his property.

" I said it would be fine as long as I can meet them," McCoy said, although he had no idea what celebrities Dudley was talking about.

Earlier in the day on Oct. 17, Dudley called McCoy and told him, " You might want to be around this evening."

McCoy saw the trucks roll in about 4 p.m. He got done milking cows about 6:30 p.m. and 15 minutes later, the trucks drove up to his house.

Al and Nancy were shocked to see Favre, Pederson and Walls walking into their kitchen.

" They seemed like ordinary guys," he said. " We didn' t talk about football at all. I treated them as hunters."

Pederson bagged an eight-point buck and Walls had an opportunity to get one, but he had his bow release on backwards.

Because of that misfortune, Walls was the subject of some ribbing by Pederson and Favre.

Favre mentioned he likes the hills in the area.

" I told him they get steeper every year," McCoy said. " He told me the football field gets bigger every year, too."

The three Packers flew into Angelo Airport on Fort McCoy that day, then toured the Mathew' s Inc. hunting bow plant in Sparta before driving out to the McCoy farm.

Dudley had been back into McCoy' s woods several weeks prior to the Packer players' arrival and he had the tree stands ready for the celebrity visitors.

" He had it all prepared," McCoy said. " He knows his hunting."

" The icing on the cake is that he (Pederson) got an eight pointer," McCoy said. " They were excited."

Favre' s pilot took a picture of Favre, Pederson, Walls, and Al and Nancy McCoy in their kitchen.

But a picture is not the only keepsake to remember the chance meeting.

" All three players autographed my kitchen table," McCoy said.

" They are very big guys. You can tell that from the picture," McCoy said. " I shook Brett' s hand and mine was pretty small compared to his."

McCoy said he didn' t know whether or not Head Coach Mike Sherman knew if the three were hunting on his property. Perhaps the hunting trip caused some distraction from football, he said.

" But I' m not going to take responsibility for the team losing the following Sunday to the Rams," McCoy said jokingly. " I' m not responsible for Brett' s broken thumb, either."

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There is a world-renowned maker of hunting bows in Sparta, WI . ) ) Green Bay' s trio had ordered custom bows from here & they called the ) ) bow-maker to go hunting here. They flew into Sparta on a private plane ) and ) ) told the bow-maker that if there was any press hoopla, they would fly ) ) away. They hunted on a farm near Sparta and apparently spent some time ) ) with the family there. They were in the barn and Favre got a kick out of ) ) the cows' names being posted above their stalls. I guess he was quite ) ) funny-big surprise. This was just a couple of weeks ago. ) ) Here' s the article... ) ) http://www.jacksoncountychronicle.co...ews/00lead.txt ) )

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