More NFL players added to the donation checklist

Pro Bowl center Matt Birk and five Minnesota Vikings teammates Tuesday joined the ranks of current NFL players who are donating all or part of their Dec. 23 game checks to the nonprofit Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund to help retired players cope with financial and medical difficulties.

Birk told reporters at a Minneapolis news conference that he would earmark $25,000 of his game check.

In a related development, Mike Ditka used the news conference to announce the end of a separate nonprofit he had created to help retirees. He contested a recent newspaper report, however, that his Ditka Hall of Fame Trust raised $1.3 million in past years to help former players but netted only $315,000 and distributed only $57,000.

Ditka said that payments to retired players in recent months had pushed the trust’s philanthropic giving to $159,000. But he also said the nonprofit would cease to function after its remaining $600,000 is divided between the Gridiron Greats organization and Misericordia, a residential facility in Illinois for developmentally disabled youth.

A member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and a Gridiron Greats board member, Ditka has been an outspoken critic of the efforts by the NFL and NFL Players Assn. to help aging former players.

“We did nothing wrong, the money’s all there,” he said in an interview Tuesday. “Maybe in the beginning, our expenses were a little high. All we were trying to do was something that’s right and good . . . but with this move, I’ll be out of the fund-raising business as far as my charity is concerned.”

Birk, who has in the past criticized the NFLPA on some issues, called on players to follow suit and give to the charity fund-raiser that has been dubbed Gridiron Guardian Sunday.

With his $25,000 pledge, Birk became the latest current player to promise a portion of their Dec. 23 game check.

He was joined at the news conference by fellow Vikings Steve Hutchinson, Anthony Herrera, Ryan Cook, Marcus Johnson and Ben Leber. Though the five declined to say how much of their game checks will go to the effort, organizers said overall contributions from active NFL players have reached $150,000.

“This is an epidemic that is affecting retired players and their families, from all eras,” said Birk, who will earn $3.9 million this year. “I see this as a humanitarian issue. When I came into the league, I was told that the NFL is a brotherhood and we would always be part of that brotherhood, so it’s only right for us to help our brothers.”

Gridiron Guardian Sunday was started Nov. 27 by Kansas City Chiefs lineman Kyle Turley, who is donating his $42,000 (pre-tax) game check.

On Tuesday, Turley said that the list of NFL players who will donate includes Chiefs guard John Welbourn, Houston Texans offensive tackle Ephraim Salaam and New York Giants linebacker Kawika Mitchell. Earlier, Turley said that San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson, Chiefs running back Larry Johnson and Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzales also were going to take part.

The Gridiron Greats organization said that tennis legend John McEnroe last week, while appearing on an HBO show hosted by Bob Costas, said he would donate $25,000 to the organization. That prompted former NBA player Charles Barkley, who also was appearing on the show, to match that. Costas also agreed to donate.

Retired football players who have been lobbying the NFL and the union to do more for needy, aging athletes welcomed the assistance from current players.

“I think it’s a tremendous thing,” said Bruce Laird, a former Colts and Chargers player who founded Fourth & Goal, a Baltimore nonprofit that assists needy old timers. “The rank-and-file current players are getting educated a bit. And once they get educated, they say ‘Wow, this isn’t right,’ and, ‘Wow, this could be me someday.’ ”

Turley said he has distributed information in every locker room in the NFL. “This issue is resonating with players, and it will continue to resonate into the spring union meeting in Hawaii,” he said. “We’ve got to educate guys so they can see that this is an extreme black eye for the NFL.”

Former Vikings Chuck Foreman, Ed Marinaro, Carl Eller, Jim Marshall and Paul Krause stood with Birk and his teammates at the news conference.

greg.johnson@latimes.com