What happened to Steve Gleason?
ESPN will celebrate Steve Gleason's inspiring story on their Father's Day SportsCenter Featured edition. Gleason, 44, played eight seasons in the NFL, with his most notable time coming with the New Orleans Saints. Gleason, 44, is a former professional football player who played safety for the New Orleans Saints. The 44-year-old originally signed as an undrafted free agent with the Indianapolis Colts in 2000. He's widely recognized for his block of a punt early in a 2006 game, which became a symbol of recovery in New Orleans, in the team's first home game after Hurricane Katrina. Gleason retired from the NFL after eight seasons in 2008. In 2011, Gleason revealed that he was battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). His experience while living with the disease was captured on video, which stretched over a five-year period and was featured in the 2016 documentary Gleason. Just six weeks after being diagnosed with ALS, Gleason and his wife Michel Rae Varisco learned they were pregnant with their first child. The disease left Gleason immobile and on a wheelchair. 3 In 2011, Gleason revealed that he was battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) Credit: Alamy  In 2020, Gleason was presented with the Congressional Gold Medal in Washington DC - for his contributions to ALS awareness. Gleason founded the nonprofit foundation Team Gleason thats raised millions of dollars for ALS research. Gleason's SportsCenter Featured edition, A Father's Resilience, will air on ESPN 2 at 8pm on Sunday, June 20. The father living with ALS will get a special Father's Day surprise from his son, Rivers, which will be included in the Featured edition.