Relive Steve Gleason’s powerful speech at the 2024 ESPY Awards

Spokane’s Steve Gleason was honored with the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage at the ESPY awards ceremony Thursday night in Los Angeles.

Former New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees presented the former Washington State standout at the ceremony, which was held at the Dolby Theater. The two were Saints teammates in 2006 and 2007.

Gleason’s emotional acceptance speech followed a 6-minute feature video on his life story.

Here’s a transcript of Gleason’s 4-minute acceptance speech for the Arthur Ashe Award, which is considered the most prestigious at the ESPYs and is presented to athletes who “reflect the spirit of Arthur Ashe and possess strength, courage and willingness to stand up for their beliefs in the face of adversity.”

Thanks Drew. I love you…

Hi, there, everyone. Hi, Gray, and Momma. And thanks for your help, Rivers.

This award, the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage, is a sublime honor for me. And I always love the opportunity to wear my tuxedo!

Arthur Ashe exemplified courage as living with an open heart of humility, kindness and generosity, which united humanity. So to receive this award is amazing.

When I learned I was receiving this award, I started reflecting on what that word “courage” means.

To be courageous, we must first experience loneliness, unworthiness or any of the faces of fear. I was told I’d have three years to live when I was diagnosed with ALS in 2011, so I’ve got the wilderness of fear tattooed all over me.

For me, this honor represents some encouragement and triumph for the families currently living with ALS, all the people living with disabilities or other illnesses, and all of you, who experience fear or suffering.

I suppose if you have never experienced fear, isolation or suffering, you can roll your sanctified ass right out of here!

The truth is, no human is immune from fear or adversity. Not even super athletes, royal princes or the most holy saints.

Considering this truth of our humanity, it’s vital that we all, individually and collectively, discover ways to be courageous and love the life we have.

My view is that the fears and adversities we encounter are our opportunity to accept what is and explore what is on the other side of fear, to grow stronger, better and have peace of mind.

From this perspective, resiliently moving through the adversities that life brings us is our purpose in being human.

It’s clear to me that our ability to courageously share our vulnerabilities with each other is our greatest strength.

By doing this, we’re able to understand the issue, compassionately collaborate with each other to solve problems and overcome fear. Without the understanding and compassionate support from my family, community and caregivers, I’d have been dead years ago.

Through this lens, you can see, we’re all in this together. We are all citizens of the world.

Given our interconnectedness, the greatest aspect of our human purpose is to generously help, serve and love others.

Do we have the courage to unconditionally love our neighbors, our so-called enemies and love ourselves?

I don’t think anyone will disagree that we face enormous challenges in the 21st century.

If we can courageously share our fears and limitations with each other and compassionately collaborate to solve problems, our human potential is boundless. If we can listen, understand and help alleviate each other’s suffering, then, truly, all things are possible.

Thank you, again, for this incredible honor. I love ya’ll.