S. 2652 

One Hundred Fifteenth Congress 

of the 

United States of America 

AT THE SECOND SESSION 

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday, 

the third day of January, two thousand and eighteen 

An Act 

To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Stephen Michael Gleason. 

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 ‘‘Stephen Michael Gleason 

Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 

SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

The Congress finds the following: 

(1) Stephen ‘‘Steve’’ Gleason was born March 19, 1977, 

in Spokane, Washington to Mike and Gail Gleason. 

(2) Steve attended Gonzaga Preparatory School for high 

school where he excelled as both a football and baseball player. 

(3) In 1995, Steve enrolled at Washington State University 

where he was a 2-sport athlete for the baseball and football 

teams and helped the Cougars football team advance to the 

1997 Rose Bowl. 

(4) In 2000, Steve signed a professional football contract 

with the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League 

as an undrafted free agent but later joined the New Orleans 

Saints in November of that same season. 

(5) Steve would go on to play 7 more seasons as a member 

of the New Orleans Saints. 

(6) Steve will always be remembered for his blocked punt 

on September 25, 2006, against the Atlanta Falcons, the night 

the Louisiana Superdome reopened for the first time after 

Hurricane Katrina in a game the Saints would win 23 to 

3. 

(7) In January, 2011 Steve was diagnosed with amyotrophic 

lateral sclerosis or ALS, considered a terminal neuro-muscular 

disease. 

(8) Following his diagnosis, Steve, with the loving support 

of his wife, Michel, began a mission to show that patients 

can not only live but thrive after a diagnosis of ALS and 

established The Gleason Initiative Foundation also known 

simply as ‘‘Team Gleason’’. 

(9) At the time of his diagnosis, however, Steve said there 

will be ‘‘No White Flags’’, which has become the mantra of 

Team Gleason. 

(10) The Gleason Initiative Foundation helps provide 

individuals with neuromuscular diseases or injuries with 

leading edge technology, equipment and services, raises global 

awareness about ALS to find solutions and an end to the 
S. 2652—2 

disease, and has helped hundreds of people with ALS experience 

life adventures they never thought possible after their diagnosis. 

(11) Steve’s story and mission have been told by the NFL 

Network, ESPN, HBO, ABC, CBS, CNN, and many local media 

outlets, as well as in a 2016 documentary titled ‘‘Gleason’’, 

which was heralded at the Sundance Film Festival and 

premiered across the country with Variety calling the production ‘‘an emotional powerhouse’’. The documentary won several 

awards, including the 2016 Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics 

Association Award for Best Documentary. 

(12) Steve was named one of two Sports Illustrated’s 

Inspirations of the Year in 2014, has been a keynote speaker 

for Microsoft and at two United Nations sponsored Social 

Innovation Summits, and received the 2015 George S. Halas 

Courage Award, given to a NFL player, coach or staff member 

who overcomes the most adversity to succeed. 

(13) Steve helped advocate for the Steve Gleason Act of 

2015 (Public Law 114–40; 129 Stat. 441), and the Steve Gleason 

Enduring Voices Act of 2017, H.R. 2465, 115th Congress (2017), 

which permanently ensures people living with diseases such 

ALS have access to speech generating devices regardless of 

their setting, whether at home or a healthcare institution. 

(14) In 2014, Steve and Team Gleason hosted a global 

summit to bring together researchers, patients, caregivers, and 

all ALS stakeholders to create a plan to ultimately end ALS. 

That summit resulted in the single largest coordinated and 

collaborative ALS research project in the world, Answer ALS, 

which brings together nearly two dozen research institutions, 

1,000 patients and 20,000,000,000,000 data points that are 

important to the project and that will define the unknown 

pathways that will lead to treatments or finally a cure. 

(15) In 2015, Steve and Microsoft worked together to create 

a method for people who are completely paralyzed to navigate 

their power wheelchairs with their eyes. Today, Steve, Microsoft 

and all wheelchair manufacturers are working collaboratively 

to make it widely available to all who need this technology. 

In addition, Microsoft has also made eye tracking technology 

part of all Windows 10 products across the globe. 

(16) In 2011, 10 months after his diagnosis, Steve and 

Michel made their most significant accomplishment, becoming 

parents to their son Rivers. 

(17) Steve and Michel Gleason continue to fight to find 

a solution for ALS so they can share many years together 

and as parents to Rivers. 

SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

(a) AWARD AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall 

make appropriate arrangements for the award, on behalf of the 

Congress, of a single gold medal of appropriate design to Stephen 

Michael Gleason. 

(b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purposes of the award 

referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter 

in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall strike the gold 

medal with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary. 
S. 2652—3 

SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

Under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, the 

Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold 

medal struck under section 3, at a price sufficient to cover the 

costs of the medals, including labor, materials, dies, use of 

machinery, and overhead expenses. 

SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

Medals struck pursuant to this Act are national medals for 

purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code. 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.