Sports

Mike Webster’s family fighting for NFL concussion settlement

Since 2017, the National Football League has paid $714 million for brain damage sustained by 1,023 of its current or former football players as part of a concussion settlement formalized in 2014.

Still waiting for recompense, however, is the family of Mike “Iron Mike” Webster, the Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Famer whose 2002 death first exposed how damaging America’s favorite sport can be to the players who are expected to crash into whatever’s in their way.

Webster’s family blames the NFL for their long struggle because the league insisted on only paying players who died after 2006 to settle a lawsuit brought by more than 4,500 players and their families accusing the league of concealing the dangers of concussions.

Iron Mike died at the age of 50 following years of bizarre behavior that left him divorced, depressed and living in his car. It took two more years before he became the first ex-NFL player to be diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a degenerative brain disease linked to repeated hits to the head.





Webster’s diagnosis not only inspired the 2015 movie “Concussion,” starring Will Smith, it started an avalanche of posthumous brain examinations of players whose families wanted to know if their loved ones had been suffering from brain damage, including the family of former Eagles defensive back Andre Waters, after his suicide in 2006.

“I think there was a 100-percent effort to screw over the people that started this,” Webster’s son Garrett told The Post of the 2006 deadline.

All that could soon change, however, due to a small opening created by the judge overseeing the case in Philadelphia federal court. About 70 families of retired NFL players who died before 2006 met a Nov. 22 deadline to file claims to a court-appointed special master who will be tasked with determining whether the statute of limitations should apply.





Among those who filed claims are the families of Webster and former Steelers players Terry Long and Justin Strzelczyk.

“We deserve it because Mike paid with his life,” said Pam Webster, who divorced Webster shortly before he died from a heart attack in 2002. “If we do not get a settlement, it would be a crushing blow to the family.”

But the Websters’ push to be included also comes as the NFL’s settlement costs are quickly rising. When the deal was finalized by Judge Anita Brody in 2017, the parties said they expected roughly $1 billion in payouts.

Two years later, the actual payouts have grown to more than $700 million, despite only 1,023 monetary awards having been made. There were 3,500 approved diagnoses as of August, the settlement website shows.





Lawyers associated with the case are now estimating the NFL’s costs will rise to $2 billion.

“We’re just weary,” Pam Webster told The Post of the family’s fight, which has included bouts of poverty. “We need closure. This has consumed my life since he got sick 28 years ago.” Webster retired in 1991 and became ill shortly thereafter.

After couch-surfing for years with friends and family, Pam and Garrett Webster now live in a Pittsburgh apartment and share a 16-year-old car.

The NFL is not paying Pam Webster, who married Webster in the 1970s, a pension because of the divorce, she said, which happened because Webster became a different person due to his football-induced brain injuries.

The family, represented by lawyer Jason Luckasevic, stands to collect $3 million if the court includes them in the settlement.





That is the rate the NFL has agreed to for every posthumous CTE diagnosis for players with enough years of service.

“I am hoping this is it,” said Garrett Webster, who is cautiously optimistic things may finally go their way.

The NFL declined to comment except to confirm that players who died before 2006 are getting a second shot at getting paid, which they say they agreed to as part of the 2014 settlement.





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