PITTSBURGH -- Hall of Fame center Mike Webster was remembered at his funeral service Friday as a loving man who treated his friends, teammates and total strangers like they were family members.

Quarterback Terry Bradshaw, one of nine other Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Famers to play on all four Super Bowl championship teams in the 1970s, cried as he remembered the friend he hadn't seen in more than a year.

"We should never allow the passing of a loved one to be the drawing card to keep our family together,'' Bradshaw said, before embracing Webster's four children.

Bradshaw and several other former Steelers, including Lynn Swann, Franco Harris, and ex-coach Chuck Noll, were among more than 200 people at the 80-minute service, nearly half of whom stood in the modest funeral home where Webster was to be cremated later Friday.

Webster, who played for the Steelers from 1974-88 and Kansas City from 1989-90, died Tuesday in the coronary care unit of Allegheny General Hospital. The Steelers initially said he had a heart attack, but declined comment after the hospital refused to reveal the cause of death.

Webster's 17-year-old son, Garrett, was happy to see so many of his father's former teammates at the service.

"To see them all here, it means not to me that they were great legends and players -- it means that they were friends of my dad,'' he said.

Garrett also thought the cool, rainy weather was fitting.

"I think he liked the rain, that was Mike Webster weather,'' Garrett said of the 60-degree day. "If it was 30 degrees colder, he'd be out here in short sleeves.''

Webster played 245 games at center -- the most at that position by an NFL player -- including 177 consecutive for the Steelers. Webster sprinted out of the huddle and overpowered larger players by maneuvering his 260-pound frame for maximum leverage.

"There are certain players -- you play against them and you respect them for the way they play the game and you respect them for the way they are as people,'' said retired New York Giants linebacker Harry Carson, who works in broadcasting and assists retired players who have difficulty adjusting to retirement or dealing with the physical maladies they suffer afterward.

Webster suffered some brain damage from numerous concussions during his playing career, prompting reports of erratic behavior and homelessness in later years.

"It's the nature of the game,'' Carson said. "People say it's a contact sport. It's not -- it's a collision sport.''

Garrett, who lived with his father the last few months of his life in the Pittsburgh suburb of Moon Township, remembered his dad as "my man, my superstar, my John Wayne.''

The Rev. Hollis Haff said Webster often quoted lines from Wayne's role as the irascible Rooster Cogburn in "True Grit.''

"I remember when he retired he said, `I'm retired, I'm relieved and I'm rejoicing,''' Haff said. "Today, you can almost hear him saying, `Now I'm really retired, really relieved and really rejoicing.'''