Legislation introduced Oct. 8 seeks three congressional gold medals to recognize the efforts of the 1980 United States Olympics’ men’s hockey team.

Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Minnesota, introduced H.R. 9950 seeking three congressional gold medals struck by the U.S. Mint to salute the team that captured the men’s hockey gold medal during the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Stauber’s “The Miracle on Ice Congressional Gold Medal Act” notes that “Team USA, comprised of collegiate players, defeated the defending Olympic champion, the Soviet Union 4-3 on Feb. 22, 1980,” in the first game of the medal round of the 1980 Winter Olympics men’s hockey tournament. Stauber explains that hockey victory “revitalized American morale at the height of the Cold War, inspiring generations and transforming the sport of hockey in the United States.” Team USA moved on to defeat Finland in the final game to take the gold medal.

Stauber’s bill seeks three separate gold medals, all bearing the same obverse and reverse designs, which would be replicated on bronze duplicate medals for sale to the public.

According to the provisions of H.R. 9950:
>One gold medal would be given to the Lake Placid Olympic Center in Lake Placid, N.Y., where it would be displayed as appropriate and made available for research.
>One gold medal would be given to the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in Eveleth, Minnesota, where it would be displayed as appropriate and made available for research.
>One gold medal would be given to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where it would be displayed as appropriate and made available for research.

Clemente in 2027

A previously introduced bill, H.R. 6751, as of Oct. 14, was 23 co-sponsors short of the necessary 290 to move the bill further along in the legislative process. It seeks a three-coin commemorative coin program for 2027 to recognize the humanitarian and philanthropic contributions of the late Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente.

The legislation seeking the Clemente commemorative coins was originally introduced in the House on Dec. 13, 2023, by Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-New York, and referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.

In addition to his baseball prowess, Clemente was also notable for his charity work during the off-season from baseball.

Clemente died Dec. 31, 1972, at age 38 in a plane crash during emergency relief efforts from Puerto Rico to Managua, Nicaragua, where a devastating earthquake eight days earlier had killed 5,000 people.

Espaillat’s legislation seeks the production and sale by the United States Mint, in Proof and Uncirculated versions, of up to 50,000 $5 gold coins, 400,000 silver dollars and 750,000 copper-nickel clad half dollars.

Net surcharges after the U.S. Mint recoups all production and associated costs would be “paid to the Roberto Clemente Foundation for application to general expenses associated with the fulfillment of the mission of the Roberto Clemente Foundation including for costs associated with educational, youth sports, and disaster relief historic preservation.”

Clemente was posthumously recognized with a congressional gold medal through legislation signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon on May 14, 1973, and the U.S. Mint sold bronze duplicates of that medal.

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