On the last Monday in October, more than 50 New Orleans-area high schoolers sat in rapt attention during an evening class at Tulane Law School. Eric Blevins, the university’s sports law program manager, played a clip of Steve Gleason’s infamous 2006 blocked punt against the Falcons during the Saints’ first game at the Superdome since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city just a year earlier.

When the clip ended, Blevins addressed his newest cohort.

“People coming together in the face of the greatest adversity — that’s what sports is about,” he said. “It can be a real force for society and community.”

Creating a strong community is one of the primary goals of the Starting Block, a multifaith nonprofit founded in 2021 by several prominent local families that prepares New Orleans high schoole

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