The NFL is a billion dollar business. Its owners are billionaires. Its players are multi-millionaires.

This year's number one overall pick, Jake Long, will earn $70 million. But things weren't always that lucrative.

When Heisman Trophy winner Paul Hornung graduated from Notre Dame and was drafted first overall by the Packers, he received just $15,000.

Hornung is among the many old timers who took his retirement early. It turned out to be the wrong decision.

"I get $900 a month. Players of today and 15 years back who played 11 seasons, get $8,000," Hornung explained. "What the hell. They are just saying to us, 'you aren't important.'"

Hornung says he is not one of the players that needs the real assistance, however. Those players are the ones that have had countless injuries and can't afford insurance. And there are many of them.

"We've got five or six guys off those Green Bay Packer teams over the years that can't buy breakfast, can't buy dinner, don't have any insurance, and they need help. Every team has seven or eight guys like that, and the league should step up and help them."

But the league has not done so, according to former legendary Bears coach Mike Ditka. It's why he has set up fundraisers like the one Sunday at Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo.

Many NFL greats -- including the likes of Ditka, Hornung, Gale Sayers and Mercury Morris -- took part in Da Coaches Blackjack Tournament to raise money for the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund.

The entry fee for the average Joe was $750, but they had the opportunity to play next to an NFL legend and could win up to $15,000 if they took first place.

South Bend's Chris Slabaugh sat next to Hornung.

"I know how to play blackjack, but I'm not doing so well right now," Slabaugh said. "He's kicking my butt right now. He knows what he's doing. He's a pro."

And while Hornung may be a "pro" at blackjack, former Bears legend Gale Sayers says he is not.

"No," Sayers said with a big laugh. "I love to play it, but I'm not a gambler, and if I win something, it's because of luck -- nothing else."

Four Winds, meanwhile, presented Ditka with a check for $20,000.

"We're not the answer, we're just a band-aid," Ditka explained. "We're just a group that came up with an idea."

"It's a great cause. What we are doing is right and we are going to help some guys, and as many as we can help, we'll help."

Ditka says the system currently in place is flawed.

"The only people who aren't getting anything are the people in dire need and the people who took their pension early," Ditka explained.

"I didn't take my pension early, so I get a good pension. But a lot of guys took their pension early because they were recommended to take it early, so there is a little bit of an injustice there."

"But that's not what we are complaining about. We are complaining about a disability system that is not a good system. Period."