He would say to me, Im not mad about what happened to me from playing football. Michael Lewis Webster (March 18, 1952 September 24, 2002) was an American professional football player who was a center in the National Football League (NFL) from 1974 to 1990 with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs. [2], It has been speculated that Webster's ailments were due to wear and tear sustained over his playing career; some doctors estimated he had been in the equivalent of "25,000 automobile crashes" in over 25 years of playing football at the high school, college and professional levels. At the teams expense, Webster was put up for six weeks at the Pittsburgh Hilton, before decamping to a $25-a-night joint. He noted that Mike Webster's body was sixty-nine inches long and weighed 244 pounds. Bad investment deals drained his assets and his rising anger and confusion, according to his wife, led to fits of rage. Effects of concussion are cumulative in athletes who return to play prior to complete recovery. Webster played center for 15 seasons (1974-88) for the Steelers and two seasons (1989-90) for the Kansas City Chiefs. An ESPN series documented Webster missing his son's 10th birthday after taking a cocktail of narcotics; repeatedly stunning himself to sleep with a Taser gun; screaming at strangers at the Amtrak. In its March 2003 issue, Reader's Digest wrote about Webster's shattered life. Obviously there are times when things are in the news you cant avoid. [citation needed] From 1964 to 2020, just five men started at that position: Mansfield, Webster, Dermontti Dawson, Jeff Hartings, and Maurkice Pouncey, with the only exceptions being injuries as well as a three year period between 2007 and 2009 when the center position alternated between journeymen Sean Mahan and Justin Hartwig. I had to be the dad sometimes., On a Friday night this past September, Webster went to his sons football game. An email has been sent to the person who requested the photo informing them that you have fulfilled their request, There is an open photo request for this memorial. Permanent link to this article: https://advocacyforfairnessinsports.org/feature-stories/nfl/when-cte-steals-your-dad-garrett-remembers-mike-webster/. A lot of people forget this started out as a discussion and examination of the NFLs retirement policy and how almost impossible it was to get the benefits. Gambling problem? Are you sure that you want to remove this flower? The sponsor of a memorial may add an additional. Flowers added to the memorial appear on the bottom of the memorial or here on the Flowers tab. [23], For the former Canadian Football League player, see. The patient on the table was Mike Webster, a former center for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Garrett shared his experiences of his late father, going through the initial stages of the NFL settlement, the familys relationship with the NFL/Steelers and the community of families who have similarly been affected by neurological diseases. During that time, none of us thought he had this revolutionary condition that was going to change the world. [12] After retirement, Webster had amnesia, dementia, depression, and acute bone and muscular pain. This is his story. If you buy something from an SB Nation link, Vox Media may earn a commission. ''You get more and more demented. [15][16][17], Webster was cremated and his ashes were returned to his wife and their four children. games, including 177 in a row. If you notice a problem with the translation, please send a message to [emailprotected] and include a link to the page and details about the problem. There is a problem with your email/password. Terms at draftkings.com/sportsbook. Serving as a backup at center and guard for two years while being mentored by veteran center Ray Mansfield, Webster became the team's starting center in 1976, where he remained for 150 consecutive games. It was in that spirit that Dr. Omalu, then a junior pathologist at the Allegheny County medical examiner's office in Pittsburgh, began an autopsy on a Saturday morning in September 2002. When I was young, he said he wanted me to be somebody, like a lawyer, says Garrett, who moved in with his father three years ago. Just finish the game. https://advocacyforfairnessinsports.org/feature-stories/nfl/when-cte-steals-your-dad-garrett-remembers-mike-webster/. Resend Activation Email, Please check the I'm not a robot checkbox, If you want to be a Photo Volunteer you must enter a ZIP Code or select your location on the map. He played in 4 superbowls, All-pro 7 years, All AFC 5 times, and 9 pro-bowls. Please consider helping us to continue to provide quality ad-free sports advocacy, journalism, and assistance to athletes. AZ, CO, CT, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, (select parishes), MD, MI, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OR, PA, TN, VA, WV, WY, CA-ONT only.Eligibility restrictions apply. He publishes a newsletter, "The Ninth Circle of Helling," that focuses on labor issues in North American sport. 1.5 million Americans suffer from traumatic brain injuries. 'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs'); Gary Pomerantz's book "Their Life's Work" details Webster's playing days as well as his final ones, highlighting how Dan Rooney appealed on Webster's behalf for disability benefits - something the league did not immediately grant him. Everybody in the family: my mom, my older brothers and sisters, my older brother and my older sister will say that. draft until the fifth round, when he was selected by the Steelers. Professional Football Player. As a neuropathologist, Omalu was especially interested in the brain. It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Michael Allen Webster (Knoxville, Tennessee), who passed away on February 24, 2023, at the age of 65, leaving to mourn family and friends. Teammate Terry Bradshaw regularly covered expenses for Webster and his family, while Steelers owner Dan Rooney paid for a hotel room for Webster for over three months. I want to earn, you know, I want to pay off my debts. Thats what for whatever reason they dont do because lets be real, they could settle with every single one of the people in this lawsuit for the maximum amount and make the money back.. Authors of the book "League of Denial," ESPN investigative reporter Mark Fainaru-Wada and his brother, Steve Fainaru, recently spoke to NPR about it and the league's efforts to deny a link between concussions and long-term brain damage. Webster was also one of the first former NFL players to be diagnosed post-mortem with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. A couple of months later, they got ahold of the actual paperwork. When he got to Kansas City that was a clear break, like in a movie. [citation needed], At the time of his death, Webster was addicted to prescription medication. On April 26, 2005, a federal judge ruled that the NFL benefits plan owed Webster's estate $1.18 million in benefits. Try again. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, class of 1997. Michael Lewis "Mike" Webster was an American football player who played as a center in the National Football League from 1974 to 1990 with the Pittsburgh Ste. Advocacy for Fairness in Sports is a nonprofit dedicated to investigative sports journalism. 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 some as the best center in NFL history. PITTSBURGH -- Mike Webster's durability and toughness made him a four-time Super Bowl champion and one of the NFL's best linemen ever . In the autopsy room, Omalu snapped on his gloves and approached the slab. Its the number one cause of death in children and young adults. A man who, despite his anger at his own fate, was nonetheless trying at the end of his life to teach his beloved sport to a football-crazy son. Contact Us | This flower has been reported and will not be visible while under review. 5% of soccer players sustain brain injuries as a result of their sport. He got his bell rung all the time, just like the rest of us, says former teammate Rocky Bleier. Former colleagues soon began to hear disturbing stories about him, but no one knew what was wrong, and Webster was mystified and frustrated himself, embarrassed that he couldnt seem to hold a job or even remember scheduled meetings. Later, he was treated for depression and symptoms of congestive heart failure. After Mike's death, when the family was approached by Dr. Bennett Omalu to help with his research on CTE and athletes, it was the beginning of a new chapter for the Webster family as well. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request. I had to make sure the slides were Mike Websters slides, Omalu told FRONTLINE. Becoming a Find a Grave member is fast, easy and FREE. Thats what hurt the most because a lot of those guys, especially Gene Upshaw, were people that my dad thought of as friends. They didnt. Omalu published his findings, believing NFL officials would want to know more. I remember my dads last game at Pittsburgh. You look at the center position as the foundation, says legendary running back Franco Harris. I remember going to the Steelers locker room. Year should not be greater than current year. Advocacy for Fairness in Sports is a nonprofit dedicated to investigative sports journalism. Mike Webster autopsy 'one of the most significant moments in the history ofsports', Kiper Mock Draft: 3 1st Round trades has a familiar name falling to the Steelers. According to The Atlantic, his post-retirement years were spent dealing with behavior that got increasingly erratic. An avid reader, Webster could still devour books on Winston Churchill and World War II, yet his memory was so fragmented he couldnt remember the simplest things, sometimes sleeping in his car by the side of the road because he didnt know how to get home. Some half-dozen times Webster requested an application for disability payments from the NFL, but he never followed through. Over the years he picked up expenses for the financially beleaguered Webster and even paid for almost all of his $7,600 funeral. He receives funding from various academic and research organisations. In private, the message seemed different. You have to measure by what you started out with, by what you overcome. Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced. And why it wasnt stopped sooner. You know, if your dad is important enough to get a limo ride to the Steelers game in Pittsburgh, he must be the mayor or something like that., I remember Kansas city a little better and the change to a large extent of how dad acted, Webster continued. [7] Webster is also perhaps the best known of a long line of All-Pro centers for the Steelers. The date on the tiles beside his body appears to read August. ''There will be some mornings he can't get up from the couch because he feels so terrible.''. Hed do it 10 or 20 times to relax., Webster was prescribed Ritalin to control his mood swings, but in 1999, shortly after his regular doctor moved away, the athlete was arrested for forging Ritalin prescriptions. A traumatic brain injury occurs every 15 seconds. In 1997, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, and in 2000 he was named to the National Football League's all-time team. The son, at 6 feet 9 inches and 340 pounds, is a high school senior and an offensive lineman on his football team. Michael L. Webster was born March 18, 1952, in Tomahawk, Wis., and was reared on a 640-acre potato farm. Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel. An athlete who sustains concussion is 4-6 times more likely to sustain a second concussion. We recommend our users to update the browser. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you. Search above to list available cemeteries. This browser does not support getting your location. Like in the Concussion movie, he had spent years battling depression, dementia, amnesia, and severe back pain. That changed in 2002 when Omalu was assigned to perform an autopsy on the legendary. I wasn't in danger. Use the links under See more to quickly search for other people with the same last name in the same cemetery, city, county, etc. But since he passed away, nobody in the family gets any more of that pension.. Your Scrapbook is currently empty. because in your life no one is keeping score. Pam Webster had to take a job as a waitress to support her family, and the couple ultimately divorced, shortly before Mike's death at age 50. All these guys were talking at the funeral about maybe they should get checkups, says Franco Harris. Too proud to ask his teammates for help, Webster was eventually befriended by a fan, Sunny Jani, who sought Mike out after reading about his troubles in the newspaper. This relationship is not possible based on lifespan dates. What Is Frontotemporal Dementia? He lived out of his pickup truck or in train stations between Wisconsin and Pittsburgh, even though his friends and former teammates offered to rent apartments for him. ''I couldn't have been the player I was without him,'' Bradshaw said. (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=f6da93d0-6850-44b9-a6b9-f62dcef33270&cid=877050e7-52c9-4c33-a20b-d8301a08f96d'; cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: "f6da93d0-6850-44b9-a6b9-f62dcef33270" }).render("a62a84b67add450880a65f158730a944"); }); The years of being butted repeatedly on the head took a brutal toll. Meanwhile, Mike began drifting back to Pittsburgh, spending more and more time there. Mike Webster, 50, Dies; Troubled Football Hall of Famer, https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/25/sports/mike-webster-50-dies-troubled-football-hall-of-famer.html. [2] Webster played during an era when protective equipment (especially helmets) was inferior, and head injuries were simply considered part of the game. Pamela put up with it for a while, but the couple separated for the first time around 1992 (she finally divorced a reluctant Webster last March after years of living apart). Which memorial do you think is a duplicate of Mike Webster (8945061)? Two Very Different NFLs for Andrew Luck and Amon Gordon, Andrew Lucks retirement, and pain he endured, hit close to home for former Charger, Brain Injury Casts a Dark Cloud Over NFLs 100th Season, New Report Projects Minimum 10% of NFL Players will Develop CTE, Tamarick Vanover chronicles classic story of disposable NFL players, The story of Bill Cesare demonstrates how little the NFL and NFLPA do to take care of former players, The Story of an NFL Wife a Conversation with Cyndy Feasel. '', Chuck Noll, his Steelers coach, said, ''He was very smart, a great technician.''. Thats when, as Pamela says, Mike changed. He seemed physically disoriented and started to behave strangely. Traumatic brain injuries cause 1.5 times more deaths than AIDS. After the genocide in Rwanda and atrocities in Srebrenica, Bosnia, in the 1990s, the world vowed never again. Then came the conflict in Darfur, Sudan, which began 20 years ago. I thought you might like to see a memorial for Mike Iron Mike Webster I found on Findagrave.com. Webster was portrayed by David Morse and Dr. Bennet Omalu was portrayed by Will Smith. We will review the memorials and decide if they should be merged. He transformed himself into a 260-pound tough-minded professional, a man known as Iron Mike who played bare-armed in freezing weather and helped set the tone for a Pittsburgh offense that included the future Hall of Famers Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Lynn Swann and John Stallworth. Are you sure that you want to report this flower to administrators as offensive or abusive? '', See the article in its original context from. That morning, on a stainless steel autopsy table inside the Allegheny County coroner's office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, lay the body of Mike Webster, the legendary center of the Pittsburgh . A man whose disturbing end has left his former teammates with questions that will forever haunt them. The weekend of the funeral, Harris went to see Garrett Webster play football and was impressed by the teenagers potential. I think that he was surprised there was no help. Mike Webster, whose Hall of Fame pro football career was followed by more than a decade of physical and psychological turmoil apparently brought on by repeated blows to the head on the field,. Biography He was born on March 18, 1952, in Tomahawk, Wisconsin, USA, as Michael Lewis Webster. It hurt him. (Photo by Gaelen Morse/Getty Images) Mike Webster attended the University of Wisconsin from 1970 to 1973. . [21] Webster's son Garrett now serves as the administrator to the Brain Injury Research Institute in Pittsburgh, which is dedicated to encouraging individuals who have had head trauma to donate their brains after death as well as being an advocate to players who have similar conditions that his father had. We couldnt imagine us not being included. Advocacy for Fairness in Sports has no intention of violating the laws of any state and, therefore, does not intend to solicit funds in those states that prohibit or restrict such solicitations. Please contact Find a Grave at [emailprotected] if you need help resetting your password. But there are some who cant walk, who find it hard to do simple things. My dad was just shocked because he did so much for these people. Literary and Cultural Heritage Map of PA. U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Late Steelers great Webster's case launched the CTE brain debate, "The Life And Career Of Mike Webster (Story)", "Before 'Concussion': An Inside Glimpse of NFL Player Mike Webster's Utterly Tragic Final Days", Reflections in Iron: Mike Websters Training Methods, People: Pro Football; Webster Retires https://www.nytimes.com/1991/03/12/sports/sports-people-pro-football-webster-retires.htmlhttps://www.profootballhistory.com/mike-webster/Sports People: Pro Football; Webster Retires, "Ben Roethlisberger breaks Mike Webster's record for most games played with Steelers", Mike Webster, 50, Dies; Troubled Football Hall of Famer, Mike Webster autopsy 'one of the most significant moments in the history of sports', "Researchers: Late NFL player had degenerative brain condition - ESPN", "Game Brain: Football Players and Concussions", "Former Steeler's Family Wins Disability Ruling", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mike_Webster&oldid=1142356025, This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 23:35. Since 2017, the National Football League has paid $714 million for brain damage sustained by 1,023 of its. This memorial has been copied to your clipboard. ''I don't think it's anybody's business,'' he said of his problems. ike Webster, whose Hall of Fame pro football career was followed by more than a decade of physical and psychological turmoil apparently brought on by repeated blows to the head on the field, died yesterday in a Pittsburgh hospital. [4] [5], Mike Webster was regarded as the best center in the Big Ten during most of his career at the University of WisconsinMadison.

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