After retiring from football, Steve attended Tulane University to receive his Master of Business Administration degree. In January 2011, he was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

3. I think if you get a chance, you'd be well-served to watch this public service announcement on ALS. Go to teamgleason.org, scroll down the front page, and click on the video. The PSA was ALS-stricken Steve Gleason's brainchild, and luckily for him, he had a good friend, Scott Fujita, who could carry out the arrangements to get some many big stars in the last month to be part of the one-minute rapid-fire message about what ALS does to the human body. Fujita did a terrific job getting Ray Lewis, Aaron Rodgers, Clay Matthews, Ronnie Lott, Drew Brees, Bill Romanowski, Mike McCarthy, Steven Jackson, Dick Vermeil, Herm Edwards -- and many others -- to participate, and Fujita got it done in two to three weeks.

"I didn't know in the early stages if we'd be able to pull it off,'' Fujita said. "To say I was floored with the amount of support we received would be an understatement. I really didn't expect to hear anything back until after Christmas, especially given the fact that I reached out to all these folks overnight on a game weekend. I heard back almost immediately from players or PR folks from the Giants, Broncos, Packers, Ravens, Texans, Browns, Bears, 49ers, Steelers and perhaps a few others. By and large, the response was generally something like: "Absolutely Scott, we'd love to help. We know all about Steve's story. What an inspiration. Just let us know what we can do." I feel like I have some really good relationships with a lot of players around the league, but, in my opinion, what seals the deal is that Steve is so charismatic and people are so drawn to his story.'' Gleason, Ravens executive O.J. Brigance and former NFL fullback Kevin Turner have become the faces of ALS throughout the NFL, and you can tell the fight is gaining momentum.


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