115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2652 

AN ACT 

To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Stephen Michael 

Gleason. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stephen Michael Glea3 son Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 The Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) Stephen ‘‘Steve’’ Gleason was born March 

7 19, 1977, in Spokane, Washington to Mike and Gail 

8 Gleason. 

9 (2) Steve attended Gonzaga Preparatory School 

10 for high school where he excelled as both a football 

11 and baseball player. 

12 (3) In 1995, Steve enrolled at Washington 

13 State University where he was a 2-sport athlete for 

14 the baseball and football teams and helped the Cou15 gars football team advance to the 1997 Rose Bowl. 

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

17 contract with the Indianapolis Colts of the National 

18 Football League as an undrafted free agent but 

19 later joined the New Orleans Saints in November of 

20 that same season. 

21 (5) Steve would go on to play 7 more seasons 

22 as a member of the New Orleans Saints. 

23 (6) Steve will always be remembered for his 

24 blocked punt on September 25, 2006, against the 

25 Atlanta Falcons, the night the Louisiana Superdome 
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1 reopened for the first time after Hurricane Katrina 

2 in a game the Saints would win 23 to 3. 

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

4 amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS, considered a 

5 terminal neuro-muscular disease. 

6 (8) Following his diagnosis, Steve, with the lov7 ing support of his wife, Michel, began a mission to 

8 show that patients can not only live but thrive after 

9 a diagnosis of ALS and established The Gleason Ini10 tiative Foundation also known simply as ‘‘Team 

11 Gleason’’. 

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

13 said there will be ‘‘No White Flags’’, which has be14 come the mantra of Team Gleason. 

15 (10) The Gleason Initiative Foundation helps 

16 provide individuals with neuromuscular diseases or 

17 injuries with leading edge technology, equipment and 

18 services, raises global awareness about ALS to find 

19 solutions and an end to the disease, and has helped 

20 hundreds of people with ALS experience life adven21 tures they never thought possible after their diag22 nosis. 

23 (11) Steve’s story and mission have been told 

24 by the NFL Network, ESPN, HBO, ABC, CBS, 

25 CNN, and many local media outlets, as well as in a 
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1 2016 documentary titled ‘‘Gleason’’, which was her2 alded at the Sundance Film Festival and premiered 

3 across the country with Variety calling the produc4 tion ‘‘an emotional powerhouse’’. The documentary 

5 won several awards, including the 2016 Washington, 

6 D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best 

7 Documentary. 

8 (12) Steve was named one of two Sports 

9 Illustrated’s Inspirations of the Year in 2014, has 

10 been a keynote speaker for Microsoft and at two 

11 United Nations sponsored Social Innovation Sum12 mits, and received the 2015 George S. Halas Cour13 age Award, given to a NFL player, coach or staff 

14 member who overcomes the most adversity to suc15 ceed. 

16 (13) Steve helped advocate for the Steve Glea17 son Act of 2015 (Public Law 114–40; 129 Stat. 

18 441), and the Steve Gleason Enduring Voices Act of 

19 2017, H.R. 2465, 115th Congress (2017), which 

20 permanently ensures people living with diseases such 

21 ALS have access to speech generating devices re22 gardless of their setting, whether at home or a 

23 healthcare institution. 

24 (14) In 2014, Steve and Team Gleason hosted 

25 a global summit to bring together researchers, pa-
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1 tients, caregivers, and all ALS stakeholders to create 

2 a plan to ultimately end ALS. That summit resulted 

3 in the single largest coordinated and collaborative 

4 ALS research project in the world, Answer ALS, 

5 which brings together nearly two dozen research in6 stitutions, 1,000 patients and 20,000,000,000,000 

7 data points that are important to the project and 

8 that will define the unknown pathways that will lead 

9 to treatments or finally a cure. 

10 (15) In 2015, Steve and Microsoft worked to11 gether to create a method for people who are com12 pletely paralyzed to navigate their power wheelchairs 

13 with their eyes. Today, Steve, Microsoft and all 

14 wheelchair manufacturers are working collabo15 ratively to make it widely available to all who need 

16 this technology. In addition, Microsoft has also made 

17 eye tracking technology part of all Windows 10 

18 products across the globe. 

19 (16) In 2011, 10 months after his diagnosis, 

20 Steve and Michel made their most significant accom21 plishment, becoming parents to their son Rivers. 

22 (17) Steve and Michel Gleason continue to fight 

23 to find a solution for ALS so they can share many 

24 years together and as parents to Rivers. 
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1 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

2 (a) AWARD AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of the 

3 House of Representatives and the President pro tempore 

4 of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the 

5 award, on behalf of the Congress, of a single gold medal 

6 of appropriate design to Stephen Michael Gleason. 

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

8 award referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the 

9 Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Sec10 retary’’) shall strike the gold medal with suitable emblems, 

11 devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec12 retary. 

13 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

14 Under such regulations as the Secretary may pre15 scribe, the Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

16 bronze of the gold medal struck under section 3, at a price 

17 sufficient to cover the costs of the medals, including labor, 

18 materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 
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1 SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

2 Medals struck pursuant to this Act are national med3 als for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States 

4 Code. 

Passed the Senate June 14, 2018. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 
115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2652 

AN ACT 

To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Stephen 

Michael Gleason.