115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1235 

AN ACT 

To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins 

in recognition of the 60th Anniversary of the Naismith 

Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. 

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 ‘‘Naismith Memorial 

3 Basketball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 The Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) On December 21, 1891, a young physical 

7 education instructor named James Naismith, intro8 duced the game of ‘‘basket ball’’ to his physical edu9 cation class, in Springfield, Massachusetts. 

10 (2) In 1959, the Naismith Memorial Basketball 

11 Hall of Fame was founded and dedicated to the 

12 game’s creator Dr. James Naismith, in Springfield, 

13 MA, ‘‘The Birthplace of Basketball’’ and became the 

14 first and only museum to honor the game at all lev15 els around the world. 

16 (3) The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of 

17 Fame honors players who have achieved greatness, 

18 exemplary coaches, referees and other major contrib19 utors to the sport of basketball. The Inaugural Hall 

20 of Fame Class of 1959 had seventeen honorees who 

21 were inducted, including Dr. James Naismith, 

22 George Mikan, Forrest C. Allen, Angelo Luisetti, 

23 Original Celtics and First Team. 

24 (4) The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of 

25 Fame is recognized throughout the world as the pre26 mier institution entrusted with recording and dis-
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1 seminating the history of the game of basketball and 

2 recognizing and honoring the achievements of its 

3 greatest players, coaches, and contributors. 

4 (5) The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of 

5 Fame provides an entertaining, enriching experience 

6 and is known for its educational outreach programs 

7 and celebrates and promotes positive core values 

8 demonstrated by basketball’s hallowed heroes and its 

9 founder. 

10 (6) Basketball is one of America’s national 

11 treasures, with its fast pace which reflects the free12 dom of expression and the modern experience of life 

13 in the 21st century. 

14 (7) Since its opening in 1959, the Naismith 

15 Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is home to the 

16 largest collection of basketball memorabilia in the 

17 world, including more than 30,000 three-dimensional 

18 objects, 800,000 photographs, and 1.5 million docu19 ments. 

20 (8) The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of 

21 Fame welcomes more than 6 million visitors inter22 ested in discovering the rich history of the game 

23 through its stories, its personalities, and its most 

24 celebrated moments. 
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1 (9) The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of 

2 Fame reaches over 7 million Americans through its 

3 educational programs, events, exhibits, social media, 

4 and its interactive website. 

5 (10) The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of 

6 Fame’s customized educational programs use basket7 ball to teach young students around the world the 

8 important lessons on a variety of topics including: fi9 nancial literacy, mathematics, civil rights, leadership 

10 of character, women’s and men’s history, and geog11 raphy. 

12 (11) The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of 

13 Fame will lead the celebration of the 60th Anniver14 sary of Basketball and will partner with a select 

15 group of constituents including the National Basket16 ball Association, the National Collegiate Athletic As17 sociation, and USA Basketball in commemorating 

18 the game throughout the 2019–2020 basketball sea19 son. 

20 SEC. 3. COIN SPECIFICATIONS. 

21 (a) DENOMINATIONS.—In recognition and celebration 

22 of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the 

23 Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred 

24 to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall mint and issue the following 

25 coins: 
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1 (1) $5 GOLD COINS.—Not more than 50,000 $5 

2 coins, which shall— 

3 (A) weigh 8.359 grams; 

4 (B) be struck on a planchet having a di5 ameter of 0.850 inches; and 

6 (C) contain 90 percent gold and 10 percent 

7 alloy. 

8 (2) $1 SILVER COINS.—Not more than 400,000 

9 $1 coins, which shall— 

10 (A) weigh 26.73 grams; 

11 (B) be struck on a planchet having a di12 ameter of 1.500 inches; and 

13 (C) contain not less than 90 percent silver. 

14 (3) HALF-DOLLAR CLAD COINS.—Not more 

15 than 750,000 half-dollar coins which shall— 

16 (A) weigh 11.34 grams; 

17 (B) be struck on a planchet having a di18 ameter of 1.205 inches; and 

19 (C) be minted to the specifications for half20 dollar coins contained in section 5112(b) of title 

21 31, United States Code. 

22 (b) LEGAL TENDER.—The coins minted under this 

23 Act shall be legal tender, as provided in section 5103 of 

24 title 31, United States Code. 
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1 (c) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of sections 

2 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all coins 

3 minted under this Act shall be considered to be numis4 matic items. 

5 (d) DOME SHAPE.—The coins minted under this Act 

6 shall be in the shape of a dome. 

7 SEC. 4. DESIGN OF COINS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The design for the coins minted 

9 under this Act shall be— 

10 (1) selected by the Secretary after consultation 

11 with the Commission of Fine Arts; and 

12 (2) reviewed by the Citizens Coinage Advisory 

13 Committee. 

14 (b) DESIGNATIONS AND INSCRIPTIONS.—On each 

15 coin minted under this Act there shall be— 

16 (1) a designation of the value of the coin; 

17 (2) an inscription of the year ‘‘2020’’; and 

18 (3) inscriptions of the words ‘‘Liberty’’, ‘‘In 

19 God We Trust’’, ‘‘United States of America’’, and 

20 ‘‘E Pluribus Unum’’. 

21 (c) SELECTION AND APPROVAL PROCESS FOR OB22 VERSE DESIGN.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall hold a 

24 competition to determine the design of the common 

25 obverse of the coins minted under this Act, with 
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1 such design being emblematic of the game of basket2 ball. 

3 (2) SELECTION AND APPROVAL.—Proposals for 

4 the design of coins minted under this Act may be 

5 submitted in accordance with the design selection 

6 and approval process developed by the Secretary in 

7 the sole discretion of the Secretary. 

8 (3) PROPOSALS.—As part of the competition 

9 described in this subsection, the Secretary may ac10 cept proposals from artists, engravers and other em11 ployees of the United States Mint, other Government 

12 employees, and members of the general public. 

13 (4) COMPENSATION.—The Secretary shall de14 termine compensation for the winning design under 

15 this subsection, which shall be not less than $5,000. 

16 The Secretary shall take into account this compensa17 tion amount when determining the sale price de18 scribed in section 6(a). 

19 (d) REVERSE DESIGN.—The design on the common 

20 reverse of the coins minted under this Act shall depict a 

21 basketball. 

22 SEC. 5. ISSUANCE OF COINS. 

23 (a) QUALITY OF COINS.—Coins minted under this 

24 Act shall be issued in uncirculated and proof qualities. 
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1 (b) PERIOD FOR ISSUANCE.—The Secretary may 

2 issue coins minted under this Act only during the 1-year 

3 period beginning on January 1, 2020. 

4 SEC. 6. SALE OF COINS. 

5 (a) SALE PRICE.—The coins issued under this Act 

6 shall be sold by the Secretary at a price equal to the sum 

7 of— 

8 (1) the face value of the coins; 

9 (2) the surcharge provided in section 7(a) with 

10 respect to such coins; and 

11 (3) the cost of designing and issuing the coins 

12 (including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, 

13 winning design compensation, overhead expenses, 

14 marketing, and shipping). 

15 (b) BULK SALES.—The Secretary shall make bulk 

16 sales of the coins issued under this Act at a reasonable 

17 discount. 

18 (c) PREPAID ORDERS.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall accept 

20 prepaid orders for the coins minted under this Act 

21 before the issuance of such coins. 

22 (2) DISCOUNT.—Sale prices with respect to pre23 paid orders under paragraph (1) shall be at a rea24 sonable discount. 
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1 SEC. 7. SURCHARGES. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—All sales of coins minted under 

3 this Act shall include a surcharge as follows: 

4 (1) A surcharge of $35 per coin for the $5 coin. 

5 (2) A surcharge of $10 per coin for the $1 coin. 

6 (3) A surcharge of $5 per coin for the half-dol7 lar coin. 

8 (b) DISTRIBUTION.—Subject to section 5134(f) of 

9 title 31, United States Code, all surcharges received by 

10 the Secretary from the sale of coins issued under this Act 

11 shall be promptly paid by the Secretary to the Naismith 

12 Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to fund an endowment 

13 that will enable increased operations and educational pro14 gramming of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of 

15 Fame. 

16 (c) AUDITS.—The Naismith Memorial Basketball 

17 Hall of Fame shall be subject to the audit requirements 

18 of section 5134(f)(2) of title 31, United States Code, with 

19 regard to the amounts received under subsection (b). 

20 (d) LIMITATION.—Notwithstanding subsection (a), 

21 no surcharge may be included with respect to the issuance 

22 under this Act of any coin during a calendar year if, as 

23 of the time of such issuance, the issuance of such coin 

24 would result in the number of commemorative coin pro25 grams issued during such year to exceed the annual com26 memorative coin program issuance limitation under sec-
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1 tion 5112(m)(1) of title 31, United States Code (as in ef2 fect on the date of the enactment of this Act). The Sec3 retary of the Treasury may issue guidance to carry out 

4 this subsection. 

Passed the House of Representatives September 25, 

2017. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1235 

AN ACT 

To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint 

the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. coins in recognition of the 60th Anniversary of