Steve Gleason

The Punt Block of September 25, 2006

Gleason spent his NFL career with the New Orleans Saints. ESPN's player page and the Washington State citation give the years as 2000 to 2007; the Tribune News Service profile by Jeff Duncan, published this week, describes an eight-year playing career that ended with his retirement in 2008. He was a special teams player, and by his own account that is all he would have been remembered as, if at all.

The play that changed that came on Monday, September 25, 2006, the Saints' first home game after Hurricane Katrina and the night the Superdome reopened. In the first quarter, against the Atlanta Falcons, Gleason got through and blocked a punt by Michael Koenen. Curtis Deloatch fell on the ball in the end zone for a touchdown, and the Saints won 23-3. "If I do not block that punt, I am another former special teams player, a has-been football guy," Gleason told Robin Roberts of ABC News in an interview that aired on October 5, 2026.

The 2011 Diagnosis and the Founding of Team Gleason

In 2011 Gleason was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the motor neuron disease known as ALS. He resigned from his job at the Shaw Group that year because of it, the Tribune profile says. The same year he and his wife, Michel, founded Team Gleason, a foundation that advocates for people living with ALS and pays for services and technology for them.

Fifteen years on, the Tribune puts the money the foundation has raised and given away at more than $65 million. Its sister research effort, Answer ALS, was assisting 730 projects in 35 countries as of October 2026, by the same report. The honors that followed include the Arthur Ashe Courage Award, the NCAA Inspiration Award, and places in the Saints Hall of Fame and the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, alongside the Washington State induction.

This article gives no net worth figure. None of the pages opened for it, from the league, the team, his publisher, or the wire and financial press, discloses his NFL earnings, the terms of his book contract, or any proceeds from the documentary about his life, and the foundation's money is the foundation's, not his. A number without those inputs would be a guess.

Rebirth, the Bronze Outside the Superdome

On July 27, 2012, the Saints unveiled a statue of the block in a private ceremony outside the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Owner Tom Benson commissioned it. The sculptor was Brian Hanlon of Hanlon Sculpture Studio in Toms River, New Jersey, and the piece, titled "Rebirth," shows Gleason and the punter Koenen as a bronze pair that stands 13 feet tall with its base, according to the team's release.

The Congressional Gold Medal of January 15, 2020

Congress approved the legislation awarding Gleason the Congressional Gold Medal in 2018, and the medal was presented at a ceremony on January 15, 2020, PBS NewsHour reported. The same report notes that Congress had also approved a law known as the Gleason Act in 2018. The Tribune profile lists the medal first among his honors.

Michel, Two Children, and A Life Impossible

Gleason married Michel Varisco, a New Orleans native, in 2008, according to the Tribune profile. They have two children; both are minors and are not named here. ABC News and the Tribune both describe his condition the same way: he lives on a ventilator and communicates with his eyes and a tablet. Duncan writes that since 2014 Gleason has not been able to walk, talk, eat, or breathe without human or technological help.

He wrote a memoir with Duncan, "A Life Impossible: Living with ALS: Finding Peace and Wisdom Within a Fragile Existence," which Knopf published on April 30, 2024. He also co-produced a documentary about his life, which the Tribune calls award-winning. "I cannot move, talk, or breathe on my own," he told ABC News this week, and then: "And still, this is a miraculous, wonderful life."

Saints vs Falcons, October 5, 2026

Twenty years after the block, the Saints again hosted the Falcons at the Superdome on a Monday night, October 5, 2026. The team honored Gleason and Curtis Deloatch as its Legends of the Game, and Team Gleason received the proceeds of the night's 50/50 raffle. During game week the NFL announced a $500,000 donation to Answer ALS for its Champion Insights program, which studies ALS in professional football players, other high-performance athletes, and military first responders.

Gleason returned to the stadium with his family. The week also brought a new album, "Rebirth," with lyrics by Gleason; Marc Broussard performed its songs at Championship Square outside the dome, the Tribune reported. The ABC News interview with Robin Roberts aired the morning of the game.

Sources

• New Orleans Saints legend Steve Gleason reflects on his 15-year ALS fight - ABC News
• 20 years after the blocked punt, Steve Gleason is doing the impossible
• WSU to induct Steve Gleason into Athletic Hall of Fame | WSU Insider | Washington State University
• Saints Unveil "Rebirth" Sculpture of Likeness of Steve Gleason
• Steve Gleason Biography - ESPN
• Ex-NFL player Steve Gleason honored by Congress for ALS work
• A Life Impossible by Steve Gleason