Webster's Career

ALWAYS A SPARTAN, BY GEORGE!

He won’t be sitting in Spartan Stadium any more.

He won’t be here for the Green-White Game.

Yet, in many ways George Webster will be

standing as straight and as tall as Sparty himself - two

symbols of unbending strength at Michigan State.

Though his remains may be back in Houston, his spirit will always be here in East Lansing, a place that became his second home and a school that continues to be better because of it.

His latest contribution to the cause? The George Webster Scholarship Fund, a way to help ex-MSU student-athletes return to finish their degrees - just as No. 90 once did after some phenomenal seasons in pro football.

“I can’t say enough about the work of Jim Nelson,” Webster said of a friend and major benefactor. “He and people like Ernie Pasteur, Con Demos and Hank Bullough, they’re Spartans in every sense of the word.”

None more than Webster, the pride of Anderson, S.C., and arguably the greatest football player in MSU history.

“Mickey,” as he’s known to his friends, wouldn’t be drawn into that debate. And he shied away from a discussion as to whether he or Dick Butkus of Illinois was the best Big Ten defender of all time.

“It was never about me,” Webster said, his gravelly voice a souvenir from throat cancer that couldn’t keep him blocked. “That’s what people didn’t understand. We had so many guys - (Robert) Viney, Mad Dog (Thornhill), Bubba (Smith) and the rest. We were a TEAM! And we still are.”

Few groups in history can match the Spartans’ achievements in 1965-66, when Duffy Daugherty’s teams were perfect in conference play - the last players to do that in back-to-back Big Ten seasons.

Overall, they were 19-1-1; 10-1 with a loss in the Rose Bowl, then 9-0-1 with a historic tie. And if MSU could play those games against UCLA and Notre Dame again, both Webster and Thornhill would get here on a furlough from heaven.

It’s not that the Bruins and the Fighting Irish were bad teams. Far from it.

But we’re talking about a ‘65 defense that could’ve been the best the sport has seen, a group that held Michigan to MINUS-51 yards rushing, Ohio State to MINUS-22 and Notre Dame to M1NUS-12. The only thing those teams gained on the ground were bruises.

And we’re dealing with a ‘66 cast that produced four of the first eight picks in the first combined NFL-AFL Draft.

Though Bubba Smith got most of the headlines, Webster got respect from every opposing head coach, offensive coordinator, quarterback and ball carrier. He was so strong a force that Daugherty spent the final six years of his coaching career trying to find another player like him.

That he ever found Webster in the first place was amazing. But in a time of racial segregation, the Spartans of the mid-’60s were one of the nation’s first color-blind teams. The chant, “Go White,” always had “Go Green” in front of it. And the only race that mattered was an l1-man sprint to the ball carrier.

“Duffy gave clinics all over the country and got to know George’s high school coach,” Bullough said. “I remember us calling Frank Howard, the coach at Clemson. He said, ‘if I could take one of them (African-Americans), I’m taking him!”

Clemson was 17 minutes from Webster’s doorstep. But the color barrier in the Deep South was as impenetrable as the ‘65 MSU defense that held Penn State, UCLA, U-M, OSU and ND to an average of four points in the regular season.

“We went down to South Bend knowing they couldn’t score,” Webster said of a 12-3 triumph. “And I’m still upset they didn’t try to win at the end of the game the following year. But in my junior year, we had a better team - as good a defense as any team that has ever played. We had hitters. We had leaders. And other than calling signals, I never said much.”

That’s not quite true. His actions spoke volumes. And just the mention of Webster’s ferocious hits put a smile where a scowl had been seconds before when Thornhill reminisced.

“We were playing Purdue for the title in ‘66 and got down 10-0 to Bob Griese,” said Thomhill, whose death in 2006 is still hard for anyone to accept. “Suddenly, we scored two quick touchdowns in the fourth quarter and went back on the field. Their first play was a draw. And I saw someone fly by me like a jet. George hit that guy so hard his eyes rolled back in his head. That’s how he used to send his message.”

Referencing his illness while he was with us, Webster had said, “Cancer can take my body. But it cannot take my mind. It cannot take my heart. And it cannot take my soul.”

After taking the hits and dishing out many more in a 10-year pro career, including three all-AFL seasons with the Houston Oilers, Webster took the opportunity to inspire in the face of adversity.

With both legs amputated and his heart needing constant medication, it would have been so easy to just fade away, to say, “I’ve fought the good fight,” and go quietly to a better place. And how he beamed on his final trip to Michigan State.

“Being at Michigan State were the best years of my life,” Webster said. “Now, it’s important we help others get their degrees. And we can do that with this scholarship fund. We can give them something that’ll last the rest of their lives - just as being a Spartan will.”

Webster was inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame in 1979, the College Football Hall of Fame in 1987, the inaugural class of the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1998.

None of those awards meant more to Webster than knowing he’ll be part of a lasting dream. Long after his number was retired, his spirit lives on. And with the help of Spartans everywhere, a rover back who revolutionized defensive thinking can put ex athletes on the offensive again.

“For me it’s an absolute pleasure to chair the George Webster Scholarship Fund,” said Jim Pignataro, associate athletics director for student-athlete support services. “As a committee, we have the honor of recruiting and selecting former student athletes who embody the character of George Webster and the selflessness of his actions.”

That’s where you come in - not as a replacement for Webster, but as a teammate. It’s the last game left to win for him and a critical victory for so many Spartans.

If it took Webster eight years to finish his studies, four as Daugherty’s greatest player and four as a model of perseverance, why should it matter if ex-football players needed a second stay on campus?

What really matters is that Webster, his friends who’ve created the opportunity and YOU - especially You - are there to open that door.

When a door opened for Webster in 1963, he burst through it and brought joy to an entire community. Forty-seven years later, with personal generosity and a team approach, the Spartan Family is still repaying him for what he was able to do for the Spartan football program prior to his death.