Willie O’Ree Congressional Gold Medal Act
Bill: H.R.2249 | Sponsor: Rep. Quigley, Mike (D-IL)
Policy area: Sports and Recreation

Summary:
Willie O'Ree Congressional Gold Medal Act
This bill provides for the award of a Congressional Gold Medal to Willie O'Ree or, if unavailable, to a member of his family, in recognition of his contributions and commitment to hockey, inclusion, and recreational opportunity.

To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Willie O'Ree, in recognition of 
 his extraordinary contributions and commitment to hockey, inclusion, 
                     and recreational opportunity.

    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 ``Willie O'Ree Congressional Gold 
Medal Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Willie O'Ree was the first Black player to compete in 
        the National Hockey League (NHL), appearing for the Boston 
        Bruins on January 18, 1958, in the throes of the civil rights 
        movement in the United States helping to end racial segregation 
        in the premier professional ice hockey league; he is widely 
        referred to as the ``Jackie Robinson of Hockey''.
            (2) Willie O'Ree was born October 15, 1935, in Fredericton, 
        New Brunswick, Canada; he is the youngest of 13 children and a 
        descendant of Paris O'Ree, whose name appears in the famous 
        historical document ``The Book of Negroes''.
            (3) Willie O'Ree was raised by his parents in Fredericton, 
        a predominantly White town where hockey was deeply rooted 
        within the culture. O'Ree was a standout athlete on the ice and 
        the baseball diamond.
            (4) At age 21, O'Ree was being scouted by professional 
        baseball teams and seriously considered baseball as a career. 
        Upon experiencing the segregated South for the first time while 
        appearing for a minor league tryout, his dream changed and his 
        attention turned solely to ice hockey.
            (5) While playing amateur hockey, Willie was struck in his 
        right eye with a puck and lost his eyesight. He was told by 
        doctors to abandon his hockey career; instead, never disclosing 
        the extent of his injury, he pursued his dream of playing 
        professional hockey.
            (6) At the age of 22, O'Ree was called up from the Quebec 
        Aces of the Quebec Hockey League (QHL) to play for the NHL's 
        Boston Bruins at a time when only 6 teams existed in the 
        league. O'Ree was unaware he had broken the color barrier at 
        the top level of the sport until he read it in the newspaper 
        the following day.
            (7) Blind in 1 eye and a victim of racism at times 
        throughout his career, O'Ree persevered and played professional 
        hockey for 22 years, tallying over 1,000 points.
            (8) In 1996, 17 years after O'Ree retired from professional 
        hockey, the National Hockey League hired O'Ree as the first-
        ever Diversity Ambassador. Having already changed the game 
        forever through his courage and convictions, O'Ree gives new 
        definition to what it means to be a trailblazer.
            (9) In this role as Diversity Ambassador with the NHL, 
        O'Ree set out to grow the sport by providing access, 
        opportunity, and motivation for children of all races, 
        ethnicities, origins, and abilities. With O'Ree providing a 
        vivid example of what is possible and serving as a relentless 
        supporter of children pursuing their dreams, more than 30 
        nonprofit youth organizations, dubbed Hockey is for Everyone 
        programs, were developed across North America, each committed 
        to offering minority and underserved children an opportunity to 
        play hockey, leveraging the sport to build character, foster 
        positive values, and develop important life skills.
            (10) Through Hockey is for Everyone programs, more than 
        120,000 boys and girls have been positively impacted. O'Ree has 
        devoted nearly 2,500 days on the ground with the youth 
        participants, visiting more than 500 schools, community 
        centers, and rinks to speak to hockey's core values and 
        beliefs: stay in school; set goals for yourself; remain 
        committed and disciplined; and always respect your teammates, 
        coaches, and parents.
            (11) Hockey is for Everyone programs have provided 
        important opportunities for youth to partake in physical 
        fitness. Today in the United States, fewer than half of the 
        children ages 6-11 engage in the recommended amount of physical 
        activity, and that number is lower for low-income families. 
        O'Ree has stood as a champion of youth athletic participation 
        and its health benefits for decades.
            (12) Hockey is for Everyone programs provide numerous off-
        ice services to youth: SAT and academic tutoring, mentoring, 
        nutrition education, college counseling, community service 
        opportunities, and more. The program has excelled at using 
        hockey as a vehicle to improve the social and emotional 
        wellness of youth and improve students' academic performances 
        both in primary school and beyond.
            (13) O'Ree was also named a Member of the Order of Canada 
        in 2008 and, in 2018, the City of Boston released an official 
        Proclamation recognizing January 18, the anniversary of the day 
        he broke into the game, as ``Willie O'Ree Day''.
            (14) In November 2018, 60 years after O'Ree entered the 
        NHL, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the 
        ``builder'' category in recognition of his efforts to grow the 
        game, using his position and the platform of hockey to improve 
        the lives of children throughout North America.

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 Willie O'Ree, or if unavailable, to a 
member of his family, in recognition of his extraordinary contributions 
and commitment to hockey, inclusion, and recreational opportunity.
    (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. The design shall bear an image of, and an inscription of the 
name of, Willie O'Ree.

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.
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