Brett Favre’s Charity for Needy Kids Gave $60K to His Daughter’s High School for

Before Brett Favre allegedly siphoned $5 million in Mississippi welfare funds to build a new volleyball facility at Southern Miss—his alma mater and where his daughter played the sport—his nonprofit for “disadvantaged children” help bankroll a new volleyball facility at her top-performing high school, The Daily Beast has learned.

Lately the 52-year-old retired quarterback is embroiled in his home state’s largest-ever public corruption scandal, one where $77 million intended for Mississippi’s neediest residents was instead allegedly funneled to pet projects and personal expenses for friends and family of officials with the Department of Human Services (DHS) and purported nonprofits receiving the funds. Among the beneficiaries of the scheme are Favre, three former pro wrestlers, and a one-time college football star’s residence and horse ranch.

The ex-Green Bay Packer hasn’t been charged with a crime. But he and multiple other parties are facing a civil suit from DHS, which is attempting to recoup the squandered millions that belonged to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.

According to the complaint, Favre also coaxed the nonprofit Mississippi Community Education Center, a subgrantee of DHS that received tens of millions in federal money, to invest $2.1 million in biotech firm Prevacus and a corporate affiliate, of which Favre was a major backer. This center also paid Favre $1.1 million for motivational speeches he never gave. (Favre repaid the state for the fees, though reportedly still owes $228,000 in interest.)

Favre’s lawyer, Bud Holmes, has said the NFL legend didn’t know he’d received funds from the federal welfare program. He recently told Insider that his client “has been honorable from day one” and “has done so much charity work—and that’s all it was here.”

This latest scandal involving Favre, however, has spawned a public backlash that’s led to Sirius XM putting his show on time out and ESPN Milwaukee halting his weekly radio appearances, heat on Twitter including from former teammates and his biographer, and a Change.org petition from a “lifelong Green Bay Packers fan” to boot him from the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The brewing outrage is perhaps no surprise to some residents of Hattiesburg who helped erect another Favre passion project: a $1.4-million volleyball facility for Oak Grove High School in 2015.

In January of that year, community newspaper the Lamar Times reported Brett and Deanna Favre advocated for the gym since their daughter Breleigh was a sophomore and avid volleyball player there. “They contacted Mike Rozier, a local builder, and it really grew from there,” the school district’s then-superintendent told the outlet, adding, “Currently nine teams use the OGHS gym. There is a great need for this facility.”

A review of nonprofit tax records reveals that Favre’s foundation, Favre4Hope, sent $60,000 to the booster club of suburban Oak Grove,…