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 attended Rhinelander High School, where he earned several awards in wrestling and participated in track and field.

Despite Webster's late introduction to the game, he quickly learned how to command the offensive line and earned a football scholarship.

[6] While at the University of Wisconsin, Mike Webster started at center for three seasons and was a team captain during his senior year.

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.

[10] 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.

He lived out of his pickup truck or in train stations between Wisconsin and Pittsburgh, despite friends and former teammates offering to rent apartments for him.

[16] In his last years Webster lived with his youngest son, Garrett, who though only a teenager at the time, moved from Wisconsin to Pittsburgh to care for his father.

Dr. Bennet Omalu, a forensic neuropathologist, examined tissue from Webster and eight other NFL players and determined they all showed the kind of brain damage previously seen in people with Alzheimer's disease or dementia, as well as in some retired boxers.

[2][22] Omalu's findings were largely ignored by the NFL until Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry was diagnosed with CTE shortly after his death at age 26 in 2009.

[2] Webster played during an era when protective equipment (especially helmets) was inferior, and head injuries were considered part of the game of football.

[26][27] Webster's estate brought a lawsuit in Maryland's United States District Court against the National Football League.

On December 13, 2006, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Virginia, upheld the Baltimore federal judge's 2005 ruling that the league's retirement plan must pay benefits reserved for players whose disabilities began while they were still playing football.