Mike Webster in the NFL (Photo courtesy of the NFL).
It has come to my attention while co-hosting The Forkball’s podcast “Tailgate Update” that younger NFL fans don’t know Mike Webster. If you are a football fan, you need to know Iron Mike. It’s a requirement. So I’m going to introduce Mike Webster to everyone. You’ll be glad you met him.
Iron Mike’s Childhood
Mike Webster was a mid-west farm boy through and through. He was born in Tomahawk, Wisconsin, in 1952. His father, William Webster, had strong Wisconsin ties, having been raised in Harshaw. Little Mike was the second of six kids and had two other farm hands—I mean, brothers, Reid and Joe.
William Webster owned a 640-acre potato farm that was an all-hands-on-deck operation for the family. When Mike wasn’t at school, he was working on the farm. This was a pretty common and understandable occurrence in the 1950s.
Unsurprisingly, Iron Mike didn’t have a lot of time for sports, and he didn’t pursue them much until high school. The concept of succeeding in sports was sort of baked into the DNA of mid-western boys, particularly in that time period, and Mike wasn’t any different; his idol was Green Bay Packers fullback Jim Taylor.
The Rural Wisconsin High School Experience
Tomahawk Wisconsin is not exactly a big metropolis in the mid-west. Since 2000, there’s been between 3000 and 4000 people, and it doesn’t seem like it was ever much bigger than that. Iron Mike had to travel roughly half an hour (via Google Maps) to Rhinelander High School (at least with today’s roads and infrastructure) in Rhinelander, Wisconsin.
Traveling to and from school while balancing farm work was no big feat. Mixing in school sports was a huge time investment. Mike Webster was up to the challenge, though; he did wrestling, track and field, and football in high school. He didn’t even get on the gridiron until his junior year because of time restraints.
His high school football coach saw the potential immediately. Mike took to the line with incredible speed, making up for a lack of experience with raw talent. His coach would actually drive him home to the potatoes after football practice so Mike could participate and still perform all of his chore duties.
Iron Mike Heads To College
Post-graduation in 1969, Mike Webster was offered a football scholarship from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and he took them up on that offer. There’s not that much information on Mike’s college days, but we do know that he was considered the best center in the Big 10 conference while he was a Badger.
Mike Webster Goes Professional
Imagine how cool it would feel to be a boy raised in rural Wisconsin on a potato farm who is now going to the National Football League. His family must have been so proud. Having so much responsibility at a young age is not particularly ideal, but Mike Webster’s childhood transformed him into a remarkable football player and man.
The Pittsburgh Steelers
Webster was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the fifth round of the 1974 draft. There used to be a concept in football called developing players behind veterans before they became starters. This was coupled with allowing a player to mess up without being considered a draft bust in a single season. It was a different time for football. Anyway, Webster sat behind Ray Mansfield for two seasons.
Starting Steeler
In 1976, Webster was the starting center. He played for 150 straight games without a single break. His streak ended in 1986 when he dislocated his elbow and was out for four games. Iron Mike earned his nickname because he was so “eager” to play, which in the 1970s meant practically dying on the field each week and playing through it.
Iron Mike gave it his all because he didn’t want to get replaced too—a valid fear for any player in the NFL. He told his son Colin, “Son, I’m not a great athlete, and I’m not quick or coordinated, so my only chance is to tire the other guy out, hit him hard, and never let up.” He was known for playing without sleeves, no matter how cold it got, so that opponents could not grab them. His son Colin wants us to know that he did not do this to intimidate anyone.
The Accolades
It goes without saying that Mike Webster was around when the Steelers were in their heyday. He and Terry Bradshaw were one of the tightest center-quarterback duos in the league. He was a key member of the team when the Pittsburgh Steelers won Super Bowl IX, X, XIII, and XIV. Mike was the only Pittsburgh Steeler who played in all four of the 1970s Super Bowls the team won.
Webster was a nine-time pro bowler and seven-time All-Pro and was enshrined in the Pittsburg Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He also exemplified great leadership skills, as shown by being the captain of the offense for nine years.
His number was not retired, but that is because Pittsburgh stopped retiring numbers when he retired. No one else has been #52, though. He was also the player who was a Pittsburgh Steeler for the most seasons (15) before Big Ben broke the record in 2019. Rumor has it that former head coach Chuck Noll said Webster was the best center in the history of the game.
An End Of An Era
In his final year with the Steelers’ in 1988, Mike Webster showed future starting center Dermontti Dawson the ropes. Webster was a free agent for the Kansas City Chiefs from 1989–1990, announcing his retirement in March of 1991. The Chiefs had actually originally brought him to the team as the coach of the offensive line. However, they reconsidered and decided to also let him start as the center.
Mike Webster’s Personal Life
Mike and Pamela Webster tied the knot while he was a Pittsburgh Steeler. The couple had originally met in college on a blind date. Pamela and Mike had four children: Colin, Garrett, Hillary, and Brooke. The couple would divorce in 2002.
Pamela recalls all of the aches and pains Mike would come home with after a game, but she said he never complained about them to his family. He was a devoted father who loved his kids. He wanted to be engaged with each kid and the things that mattered to them. Both Colin and Garrett recall memories of “working out” with their dad in the NFL locker rooms. They would count the reps for players’ lifting weights, and Colin remembers seeing his dad working out with the likes of players like Lynn Swann.
Iron Mike was an avid weightlifter who took his daily workouts seriously. He worked all parts of his body, had the perfect squatting form, and worked on his cardio by running routinely too. As he got older, he had to scale it back, but he always took his health seriously.
He Would Have Been A YouTuber
Although working out was his passion, fiddling with his diet and taking supplements was his first love. He would probably be heavily involved in the gym culture on YouTube if he were still alive. Iced milk was Iron Mike’s kryptonite. As a Pittsburgh Steeler, he mostly consumed huge portions of meat, along with potatoes (no surprise there), tons of butter, and some of Pamela’s home-made baked goods.
In his older years in Kansas City, he was more of a carb and pasta guy, finding it harder to stuff down huge quantities of meat. He was also more aware of the concept of eating smaller portions more often. It’s important to remember that a lot of the dietary information we have is based on relatively recent research. Mike was learning along with the scientists!
Mike Webster was a real supplement guy, always having a bag of vitamins close by. The center always had Vitamin C and D, along with iron, ready for his kids before school—one of his favorite daily mixes. A popular herbal supplement at the time, “Uptime,” was a smorgasbord of vitamins and a personal favorite of Mike. These little pills included caffeine, vitamin C, wheat grass, cayenne pepper, ginseng, bee pollen, and microspirulina algae.
Webster was a Target mom juicer before his time. He would try all types of vegetable and fruit juices. His sons recall that they were disgusting and were unappealing shades of green and black. His gut didn’t seem to love them either. Webster’s family would resort to driving around with the windows rolled down in the car in -30-degree weather if he had drank one earlier on that didn’t agree with him.
Post-Retirement Life for Iron Mike
Things were a little complicated for Mike. Work was a bit difficult health-wise for Webster, but he wanted to earn his keep—that worth ethic from his childhood. As a result, he dabbled in sales, owned small businesses, and did a little bit of broadcasting and coaching here and there.
Unfortunately, we lost Mike Webster in 2002 at 50 years old. He officially passed away from a heart attack. Post-death, the extent of his injuries really stood out. In his older years, he did mention being in pain physically and struggling neurologically, but no one knew the full extent. Pamela mentioned he was aging poorly; many people thought he looked 70 when he passed away.
A few things were visible during his autopsy. One of these things was the shelf of scar tissue he had on his head that fixed his forehead to his scalp. Mike Webster also had teeth falling out, bulges in his back, visible varicose veins, cellulitis, and an enlarged heart.
Iron Mike had these deep fissures in his feet. He also only wore cowboy boots in his later years because of the pain associated with broken bones in his feet that never healed. His wife said he looked like he was still gripping a football in his casket. Mike’s broken fingers were curled in that position, gnarled with arthritis.
Mike Webster was loved by his family, by his team, by his city, and by the football community as a whole. He left behind a legacy on the gridiron that many can only aspire to. We were lucky to have Iron Mike for as long as we did. May he rest in peace.
