The Top 3 Professional Sports Leagues in the United States are Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Football League (NFL).
Which of these is not like the others?
The NFL is the only one among these three that has not had its Hall of Fame celebrated on a US commemorative coin. MLB (2014) and the NBA (2020) have each enjoyed a commemorative coin program related to its Hall of Fame.
The NFL's missing out hasn't been for a lack of trying, however.
Beginning in 2012, during the 112th Congress, and continuing in the 113th and 114th Congresses (seven bills in total), steps were taken to introduce legislation that called for a coin program to benefit the Pro Football Hall of Fame - bills were introduced in the Senate and House of Representatives in each Congress. The bills were essentially identical, differing in the specified year of issue for the coin program.
Note: The Pro Football Hall of Fame is located in Canton, Ohio.The bills included a "Findings" section that outlined the case for the Pro Football Hall of Fame (from the bills introduced in the 114th Congress):
"The Congress finds the following:
"(1) The Pro Football Hall of Fame's mission is--
"(A) to honor individuals who have made outstanding contributions to professional football;
"(B) to preserve professional football's historic documents and artifacts;
"(C) to educate the public regarding the origin, development, and growth of professional football as an important part of American culture; and
"(D) to promote the positive values of the sport.
"(2) The Pro Football Hall of Fame opened its doors on September 7, 1963. On that day, a charter class of 17 players, coaches, and contributors were enshrined. Among the group were such legends as Sammy Baugh, Red Grange, George Halas, Don Hutson, Bronko Nagurski, and Jim Thorpe. Through 2012, 273 members had been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Three distinct iconic symbols represent an individual's membership in the Hall of Fame: a bronze bust, a Hall of Fame gold jacket, and a Hall of Fame ring.
"(3) The Pro Football Hall of Fame has welcomed nearly 9,000,000 visitors from around the world since opening in 1963. The museum has grown from its original 19,000-square-foot building to a 118,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility, as a result of expansions in 1971, 1978, 1995, and most recently in 2011-2013. In addition, major exhibit renovations were completed in 2003, 2008, and 2009.
"(4) The Pro Football Hall of Fame houses the world's largest collection on professional football. Included in the museum's vast collection are more than 20,000 three-dimensional artifacts and more than 20,000,000 pages of documents, including nearly 3,000,000 photographic images.
"(5) The Pro Football Hall of Fame reaches a worldwide audience of nearly 15,000,000 people annually through visitors to the museum, participants in the annual Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival, three nationally televised events, the Hall of Fame's Web site, social media outlets, special events across the country, and through the museum's Educational Outreach video conferencing programs.
"(6) It is appropriate that these coins are issued in 2019, which is the beginning of the hundred year anniversary of the National Football League."Note: Finding #6 was added to the bills introduced in the 114th Congress.The proposals called for a three-coin program - Gold Half Eagle, Silver Dollar and Copper-Nickel (CuNi) Clad Half Dollar. The bills were essentially identical, differing in the year of issue for the three-coin program (2016, 2019). The Senate bills were referred to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; the House bills to the House Committee on Financial Services.
Robert Jones "Rob" Portman (R-OH) led the efforts in the Senate, and James B. Renacci (R-OH) did the same in the House of Representatives.
The bills called for the minting of up to 50,000 Gold Half Eagles ($5 coins), 400,000 Silver Dollars and 750,000 Clad Half Dollars. Surcharges to be collected for each coin were $35, $10 and $5, respectively. Specific designs were not included in the legislative proposals, but a general "emblematic of the game of professional football" statement was.
Surcharges were to be paid to the Pro Football Hall of Fame "to help finance the construction of a new building and renovation of existing Pro Football Hall of Fame facilities."
In all but one instance (the House bill in 112th Congress), the bills did not go beyond the Introduction/Referral step. The House bill in the 112th Congress was passed via a suspension of the rules (i.e., w/o Committee recommendation) but stalled in the Senate.
As neither Portman nor Renacci is currently serving in the US Congress (118th), bills for Pro Football Hall of Fame coins may not be introduced. As much as I enjoy sports (including playing organized baseball for 30+ years), I've never been a supporter of sports Hall of Fame coins. I believe such private corporations should raise funds through their own operations or direct donations vs. via surcharges on coin collector purchases - but that's just my opinion, your mileage may vary.
For more of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including more What If? stories, see:
Commems Collection.
Posted 10/18/2024 10:48 am
