[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4972 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4972

 To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to Althea Gibson, in 
  recognition of her groundbreaking achievements in athletics and her 
  commitment to ending racial discrimination and prejudice within the 
                          world of athletics.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 25, 2014

  Mr. Payne introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to Althea Gibson, in 
  recognition of her groundbreaking achievements in athletics and her 
  commitment to ending racial discrimination and prejudice within the 
                          world of athletics.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Althea Gibson Excellence Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Althea Gibson was born August 25, 1927, in Silver, 
        South Carolina.
            (2) Althea Gibson lived with her family in Harlem during 
        the 1930s and 1940s. She was first introduced to tennis on the 
        Harlem River Tennis Courts. She went on to dominate the all-
        Black American Tennis Association tournaments throughout the 
        early 1940s, when racism and segregation prevented her from 
        participating in tournaments sponsored by the United States 
        Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA).
            (3) Althea Gibson graduated from Florida A & M University 
        in 1953, and was an athletic instructor at the Lincoln 
        University in Jefferson City, Missouri.
            (4) Despite her extraordinary athletic prowess, Althea was 
        repeatedly denied entry into the world's top tennis tournaments 
        based on the color of her skin. Alice Marble, a four-time U.S. 
        Open champion, wrote a historic editorial published in the July 
        1950 American Lawn Tennis magazine, condemning the sport of 
        tennis for excluding players of Althea Gibson's caliber.
            (5) Althea excelled in the Eastern Grass Court 
        Championships at the Orange Lawn Tennis Club in South Orange, 
        New Jersey. Her outstanding grass play caused the USLTA to 
        reevaluate its policy providing Althea a bid to Forest Hills.
            (6) Althea was the first African-American to win 
        championships at famous tournaments, such as the French Open, 
        the United States Open, the Australian Doubles, and Wimbledon 
        in the 1950s.
            (7) Althea broke the color barrier to become the first 
        African-American player, either male or female, to be allowed 
        to enter the Forest Hills, New York, Championship in 1950.
            (8) Althea Gibson's tennis career flourished, even in the 
        face of discrimination. She was the first African-American 
        invited to Wimbledon in 1951, eventually winning both the 
        women's singles and doubles in 1957 and 1958.
            (9) She would go on to become the first African-American 
        woman to win the championship at the French Open in 1956.
            (10) During her career, she won 56 doubles and singles 
        titles before gaining national and international acclaim for 
        her athletic feats in professional tennis leagues. In the late 
        1950s, Gibson won eleven major titles including three straight 
        doubles at the French Open in 1956, 1957, and 1958 and the U.S. 
        Open in 1957 and 1958.
            (11) Althea was the first African-American to be named as 
        the Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press in 1957. 
        She was given that honor again the following year. When she won 
        her second U.S. Championship, she went professional at the age 
        of 31.
            (12) As further evidence to Althea's athletic gift, after 
        finishing her amateur tennis career, she became a professional 
        golfer in 1959. She was also the first African-American woman 
        to hold a membership in the Ladies Professional Golf 
        Association (LGPA).
            (13) After retiring from golf, Althea Gibson shifted her 
        focus to public service. In 1975, Althea Gibson was named the 
        New Jersey Commissioner of Athletics. She held this position 
        and also served on both the State's Athletics Control Board and 
        the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness.
            (14) Althea Gibson was inducted into the prestigious 
        International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1971 and to the 
        International Women's Sports Hall of Fame in 1980.
            (15) In 1991, the National Collegiate Athletic Association 
        (NCAA) honored Althea Gibson with the Theodore Roosevelt Award, 
        the highest honor the organization may confer on an individual. 
        She was the first woman ever to receive this distinguished 
        honor.
            (16) Althea passed away in East Orange, NJ, on September 
        28, 2003.
            (17) Althea Gibson was a trailblazer whose experiences and 
        successes paved the way for other great African-American tennis 
        players like Arthur Ashe.
            (18) The legacy of Althea Gibson continues to serve as an 
        inspiration and a shining example for the Nation's youth.
            (19) Joining the ranks of other distinguished Congressional 
        Gold Medal recipients would be a fitting accolade to the 
        achievements of Althea Gibson.

SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

    (a) Presentation Authorized.--The Speaker of the House of 
Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make 
appropriate arrangements for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of 
the Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design in commemoration of 
Althea Gibson, in recognition of her groundbreaking achievements in 
athletics and her commitment to ending racial discrimination and 
prejudice within the world of athletics.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For purposes of the presentation referred 
to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (referred to in 
this Act as the ``Secretary'') shall strike a gold medal with suitable 
emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary.

SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

    The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold 
medal struck pursuant to section 3 under such regulations as the 
Secretary may prescribe, at a price sufficient to cover the cost 
thereof, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and 
overhead expenses, and the cost of the gold medal.

SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS.

    (a) National Medals.--The medals struck pursuant to this Act are 
national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States 
Code.
    (b) Numismatic Items.--For purposes of section 5134 of title 31, 
United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be 
considered to be numismatic items.

SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF SALE.

    (a) Authority To Use Fund Amounts.--There is authorized to be 
charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund, such 
amounts as may be necessary to pay for the costs of the medals struck 
pursuant to this Act.
    (b) Proceeds of Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of duplicate 
bronze medals authorized under section 4 shall be deposited into the 
United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
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