Mike Webster

Michael Lewis Webster (March 18, 1952 – September 24, 2002) was an American professional football center in the National Football League (NFL) from 1974 to 1990 with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, class of 1997. Nicknamed "Iron Mike", Webster anchored the Steelers' offensive line during much of their run of four Super Bowl victories from 1974 to 1979 and is considered by many the greatest center in NFL history.

Webster died in 2002 at the age of 50 of a heart attack. The brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) was initially discovered in his brain during his autopsy, and brought attention to the disease.

Webster was born in Tomahawk, Wisconsin north of Wausau on March 18, 1952, the second child of six children. He grew up on a 640-acre potato farm near Harshaw, Wisconsin southeast of Park Falls. As a child, Webster idolized Green Bay Packers fullback Jim Taylor. Webster attended Rhinelander High School in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, earning several awards in wrestling and participating in track and field. Due to Webster's responsibilities on his family's farm, he did not start playing football until his junior year. His coach Dave Lechnir had to drive Webster home after practice so the latter could get home in time to do his chores. Despite Webster's late introduction to the game, he quickly learned how to command the offensive line and earned a football scholarship.

After graduating from high school in 1970, Webster committed to the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He was 6'1" and around 230 pounds when he began his college career, he later bulked up to 255 pounds while he played for the Badgers. He was regarded as being the best center in the Big Ten during most of his career with the Badgers. While at the University of Wisconsin, Webster started at center for three seasons and was a team captain during his senior year. He earned recognition as the team's Most Valuable Player and received All-Big Ten honors. Webster also showcased his skills in many postseason games including the College All-Star Game, East-West Shrine Bowl, Hula Bowl, Senior Bowl, and the Coaches All-America Game.

At 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) and 255 pounds (116 kg), he was selected in the fifth round of the 1974 NFL draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Webster served as a backup at center and guard for two years while being mentored by veteran center Ray Mansfield. He became the team's starting center in 1976, where he remained for 150 consecutive games. He was the Steelers' offensive captain for nine years. That ended in 1986 when he dislocated his elbow, causing him to sit out for four games. The Steelers won Super Bowls IX, X, XIII, and XIV. Webster was honored as an All-Pro seven times and played in the Pro Bowl nine times.

An avid weightlifter, Webster was known for playing with bare arms to keep opponents from grabbing his sleeves; as his techniques were primarily done to reduce holding calls, this eventually led to teams and athletic suppliers to gradually shorten the sleeves on football jerseys to the point that the sleeves were nonexistent and several teams jersey stripes (including the Steelers) no longer went around the sleeve and in many cases partially missing. This would eventually spread to all levels of football.

Webster became a free agent after the 1988 season. He was signed by the Kansas City Chiefs, who initially made him an assistant offensive line coach before allowing him to return as the starting center. Webster played two seasons in Kansas City before announcing his retirement on March 11, 1991, after a 17-year career with a total of 245 games played at center.

At the time of his retirement, he was the last active player in the NFL to have played on all four Super Bowl winning teams of the 1970s Steelers. At the time of his retirement, he had played more seasons as a Steeler than anyone else in franchise history (15 seasons), one season ahead of Terry Bradshaw and Hines Ward. Ben Roethlisberger tied Webster's record in the 2018 season, and broke it in 2019.