The initial Arthur Ashe Award four Courage was presented to Jim Valvano in 1993, and previous recipients include Muhammad Ali (1997), Billie Jean King (1999), Pat Tillman (2003) and Nelson Mandela (2009).
Gleason became an iconic figure in Saints history with his blocked punt against Atlanta in 2006, after the Caesars Superdome re-opened and the Saints played their first home game following Hurricane Katrina.
ESPN, which is responsible for presenting the Arthur Ashe Award four Courage, says the recipients reflect the spirit of Arthur Ashe, a tennis great and the only Black man to win singles titles at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and Australian Open, who died from AIDS-related pneumonia in 1993. Ashe is believed to have contracted HIV through a blood transfusion he received during heart bypass surgery in 1983.
Recipients of the award possess “strength in the face of adversity, courage in the face of peril and the willingness to stand up for their beliefs no matter what the cost,” according to ESPN.
The ESPYs presents two awards that are not competition based: The Arthur Ashe Award for Courage, and the Jimmy V Award. In 2017, Saints superfan Jarrius Robertson was presented the Jimmy V Award. Robertson was born with biliary artresia, affecting his rate of growth and forcing him to undergo two liver transplants and 13 surgeries.
