Ditka in Fla. to aid families of fallen soldiers

Mike Ditka has seen how regular people will eagerly write big checks to his charity for the privilege of playing a round of golf or sharing a banquet table with him or some other pro football legend.

Most recently his cause has been former NFL players who are disabled and destitute. Now he's also reaching out to a charity that benefits another kind of fallen warrior - those who go to war for the United States.

The 69-year-old Hall-of-Fame tight end who later coached the Chicago Bears to a Super Bowl championship has been the menacing public face - and loud voice - of the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund since it was founded last year to help injured former NFL players who are down on their luck and aren't getting assistance from the league.

Ditka came to Tampa Tuesday - Veterans Day - to talk about how part of the $1 million or so expected to be raised through Gridiron Great events before the Feb. 1 Super Bowl here will benefit the U.S. Special Operations Warrior Foundation, a charity that helps the families of Army Green Berets, Navy SEALS and other elite fighters who are wounded or killed in action.

Special Operations - or SOCOM - is headquartered at Tampa's MacDill Air Force Base.

"I understand that their fight is a different fight than ours, but still it's the same (need)," Ditka said in an interview with the Associated Press.

"We have a tendency to forget the people we really count on in our country," he said. "We just assume people go to war, they come back and go back to their families and everything is normal. Or they go to war and they don't come back."

Jennifer Smith, executive director of Gridiron Greats, was introduced to the SOCOM charity through an acquaintance and found it to be a fitting partner for the former players' group.

"The commonality," she said, "is that we're both trying to take care of a segment of our community that's not currently being taken care of."

Ditka's charity is counting on the Super Bowl week activities to pick up the slack. Ditka and 100 former NFL players will participate in a dinner hosted by TV personality Bob Costas, a golf tournament, autograph show and other events. The SOCOM charity is pleased just to be included.

"Anytime anyone wants to help us take care of the children of our fallen, I'm all eyes and ears," said John T. Carney Jr., a retired Air Force colonel who runs the Warrior Foundation.

Next on Ditka's agenda Tuesday was a visit to Tampa's VA hospital, the busiest such facility in the country. "Iron Mike" thought it might be good for him.

"Let's be honest, we don't think about doing those things," he said. "Every once in awhile we got to get a reality check and a kick in the ass and say hey, there's more to life than our own little special needs and interests. I need that."

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On the Net:

Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund: http://www.gridirongreats.org

Special Operations Warrior Foundation: http://www.specialops.org