Steve Gleason was the star of the show on Monday as the Saints revisited one of the most celebrated moments in franchise history.
The former safety led a second line through downtown New Orleans ahead of a “Domecoming” celebration marking 20 years after the Saints returned to the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina. Gleason’s blocked punt at the beginning of that game etched him into NFL lore.
“When I roll back into that stadium, I will not only be visiting a monument to 2006, I will be walking into a mirror, a place that learned how to rise,” Gleason told “Good Morning America” before the team lost 45-24 to the Falcons on “Monday Night Football.”
“I had to learn the same thing. Twenty years later, I can’t wait to be in the room where that love still lives.”
Gleason is, of course, rolling into the stadium rather than walking. The Saints legend was diagnosed with ALS in 2011 and cannot move, talk or breathe on his own. He uses his eyes to communicate on a tablet.
According to the ALS association, only about 10% of people with the condition live 10 or more years after diagnosis. Gleason, 49, has used that extra time to found Team Gleason, a charity that has raised over $65 million to support its mission of “improving the lives of people living with ALS and their caregivers,” through technology, equipment and empowerment.
“If I do not block that punt, I am another former special teams player, a has-been football guy,” Gleason said. “When the ALS came, I probably fade away quietly and die anonymously.
“That play made me visible at the exact moment this city needed a symbol. Years later, that visibility became a lifeline.”
A blocked punt in Week 3 wouldn’t normally be remembered for years, but for a city still recovering from a devastating hurricane that killed 1,300 people, the play and ensuing touchdown return — less than two minutes into the game — symbolized a “Rebirth,” as the play is known by to this day.
Twenty years later, Gleason recognizes that the hope he provided to New Orleans in that moment has been returned tenfold over the years.
“The truth I have to live with is this: The same play that helped New Orleans breathe again is a big reason I’m still breathing now,” Gleason said.
