Since 1986, the Young Leadership Council (YLC) has annually honored outstanding New Orleanians who serve as inspiring leaders within their community. This year, the nonprofit organization recognized Gabe Feldman, director of the Tulane Law School Sports Law Program, as a YLC Role Model Award recipient.

As the Paul and Abram B. Barron Associate Professor of Law, Feldman teaches several sports law, antitrust and negotiation and mediation advocacy courses.

Feldman says that he strives to instill a sense of power within his students entering the sports industry, as they have the potential to positively impact their communities on and off the field.

“Athletes have the incredible ability to make a difference. That’s the underlying thread beneath everything I do,” he said.

Three years ago, Feldman fostered a partnership between the Tulane Sports Law Program and the Major League Baseball Urban Youth Academy.

“The academy is designed to grant children in New Orleans and surrounding areas opportunities to play baseball and to be trained by high-level current and former players,” he said.

In collaboration with former minor league baseball player Eddie Davis, Feldman teaches sports law classes to select participants within the academy.

“It’s a terrific partnership, not only for the future baseball players of America, but for the future sports lawyers of America,” said Feldman.

Feldman is also the director of the Special Olympics in New Orleans.

“People with special needs are a tremendously underserved community in New Orleans,” he said. “I wanted to get involved with the Special Olympics in New Orleans years ago, but the organization here had been inactive since Katrina.”

Feldman teamed up with his wife and friends to relaunch the organization with additional support from the Tulane Athletics Department and Tulane Law School.

“Many of our events are hosted at Tulane, and many volunteers are Tulane students,” he said.

Feldman noted that Tulane is also the state’s first university to host unified intramural leagues in flag football and basketball, where Tulane students play on the same teams as Special Olympics athletes.

Like this article? Keep reading: Fielding dreams, Part I