The estate of NFL Hall of Fame center Mike Webster is entitled to collect more than $1.5 million in disability benefits because brain damage left him unable to work following his football career.
A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Baltimore judge’s order that the NFL pay Webster’s estate benefits retroactive to the date of his retirement, plus interest and legal fees. The amount is reported to be about $1.5 million to $2 million.
The court said the board that administers NFL players’ disability plan ignored evidence that the pounding Webster absorbed during his 16-year career left him totally and permanently disabled when he retired in March 1991. Webster died of a heart attack in 2002 at age 50.
From 1974 to 1988, Webster anchored the offensive line for a Pittsburgh Steelers team that won four Super Bowls. He played 245 games — the most ever by a center — and played every offensive down for six consecutive seasons, earning the nickname “Iron Mike.” Webster finished his career with the Kansas City Chiefs.
“His remaining 11 years of life were plagued by a series of failed business ventures and stunted career attempts,” Judge Allyson Duncan wrote in the opinion. Webster was homeless at times.
Associated Press © 2006.
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