Mike Webster, the center for Pittsburgh's 4 Super Bowl champion teams in the 70's, died earlier today at the age of 50. Webster is a Hall of Famer and was elected to the All-Time NFL team in 2000. A newspaper is reporting he died of a heart attack, but neither the Steelers nor the hospital would confirm.
From ESPN.com:
[quote]Webster, inducted into the Pro Football Hall in 1997, was widely considered one of the game's greatest centers and he was voted in 2000 to the All-Time NFL Team. During his career from 1974-90, he made the Pro Bowl nine times and won the four Super Bowls in his first six seasons.
Webster often went entire seasons without missing an offensive play, anchoring a Steelers line that paved the way for Franco Harris' numerous 1,000-yard seasons and protected Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw.
He left the Steelers after the 1988 season, and played his final two years in the league with the Kansas City Chiefs.
"Mike's toughness and unswerving dedication to excellence, often hidden by his quiet demeanor, inspired all who knew him,'' said John Bankert, executive director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Webster was born March 18, 1952, in Tomahawk, Wis. He went to the University of Wisconsin and was taken by the Steelers in the fifth round of the 1974 draft. He played more seasons (15) and more games (220) than any other player in Pittsburgh history.
Webster was an All-Pro selection six straight years from 1978-1983 and was selected to the All-AFC team five times from 1978-1982.
He was diagnosed in 1999 as having brain damage caused by repeated head injuries during his career. His doctors said several concussions damaged his frontal lobe, causing cognitive dysfunction. The progressively worsening injury caused him to behave erratically, and Webster briefly was homeless, sleeping in bus stations several times when he could not find somewhere to stay.
He was placed on five years probation in September 1999 in Beaver County, Pa., after pleading no contest to forging prescriptions to obtain Ritalin, a prescription drug commonly used to treat children with hyperactivity.
Doctors said Webster's injuries were similar to those suffered by boxers -- one said he was essentially "punch drunk'' -- and affected his attention span, concentration and focus. They said the condition could not be cured and an operation would not improve his brain functions.
In an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last week, Webster's son, Garrett, who plays football at a high school near Pittsburgh, said Webster sometimes couldn't get off the couch in the morning because he "feels so terrible.''
"My dad has some health problems no one knows about and that I don't want to get into that much,'' said Garrett Webster, who is 6-foot-9 and weighs 340 pounds. "But he has some brain injuries from football. I have to take care of my dad.''
When he joined the Steelers, Webster initially split time with veteran Ray Mansfield, but began in the final game of the 1975 season a string of 150 consecutive starts that lasted until he missed the final four games in 1986 with a dislocated elbow.
A strong, punishing blocker and tireless worker whose ability to pull and trap meshed perfectly with Steelers coach Chuck Noll's running schemes, Webster was widely considered the strongest Steelers player. He won an NFL Ironman competition in 1980.
Former Steelers running back Rocky Bleier said that Bradshaw, during the time he called his own plays, often allowed Webster to make the play calls in short yardage situations.
"He was very smart, a great technician,'' Noll said. "From the get-go, there was no question about his ability.''
Webster, a perennial All-Pro choice, was approached by several teams about becoming an assistant coach after his playing career ended in 1990 with the Chiefs. But his health and personal problems began shortly after his career ended.
"Webby was the best ever,'' said Bradshaw, who presented Webster during his Hall of Fame induction.