After 11 years in Minnesota, Birk signed a three-year $12 million deal with Baltimore Ravens in 2009.

“Matt has done a great job and we wanted him to return to the Vikings in ’09, but at this point Matt wanted a change of scenery,” then-coach Brad Childress said at the time according to The MinnesotaSCORE. “We wish him the best and know that he will always be a part of the Vikings family.”

Since signing Birk, the Ravens have advanced to the playoffs in all three years, making it to the divisional round in 2009 and 2010 and falling one missed field goal short of a trip to the Super Bowl in 2011. And Birk and the Baltimore offensive line have helped running back Ray Rice emerge as one of the top backs in the league. Rice earned All-Pro and Pro-Bowl selections in both 2009 and 2011 and finished the 2011 season as second in the NFL.

And Birk won over his teammates once again and was named the team’s Man of the Year in 2009 and 2011.

“We have great chemistry,” Birk said of the Ravens. “Guys really enjoy playing with each other. We feel grateful to be on that team. It’s going to be good for a long time.”

There had been rumors that Birk might retire after the 2011 season, and the center confessed that he was weighing his options in the month following the season, saying “I’m using this month to just relax and slow down, figure out what is the next move”, but on March 16 he signed another three-year contract with Baltimore.

QUOTH THE RAVEN

Returning to the work that earned Birk the 2012 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, it seems fitting that the center received the honor for his literacy promotion during his time the Ravens, a team that takes its name from the poem by Edgar Allan Poe.

“The void was bigger in Baltimore than it was in the Twin Cities,” said Jeff Ginn, executive director of the HIKE Foundation (which stands for Hope, Inspiration, Knowledge, and Education) . “It was a great opportunity for the foundation.”

Matt Birk’s HIKE Foundation, as it is formally known, partners with school districts to achieve its goal of promoting reading.

“Teachers already have more on their plate than they’ve ever had,” Ginn explained. “Really what we are is a gap-filler.”

Birk’s ability to connect, both with the schools and their students, doesn’t surprise his good friends.

“He was just a great guy, always fun, always had a smile on his face,” Runyon said of growing up with Birk.

“He’s a very passionate, gregarious, energetic speaker,” Skelton added. “He can strike a chord with the younger generation.”

The HIKE Foundation strikes this chord through its two programs, Ready, Set, Read! and Read and Rise.