NO MEDAL — YET:

The late Pat Summitt won’t be getting a Congressional Gold Medal in the near future.

WASHINGTON — Pat Summitt won many accolades during her legendary coaching career at the University of Tennessee, but she won’t be receiving the Congressional Gold Medal anytime soon.

Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., RKnoxville, said last week he has ended his campaign to bestow the medal upon Summitt because the measure did not have the support it needed in Congress.

Legislation to award the Congressional Gold Medal must be sponsored by two-thirds of Congress — 290 House members, 67 senators. Duncan’s bill to honor Summitt had just 142 co-sponsors — 73 Republicans and 69 Democrats.

Summitt’s death last month further complicated matters: To qualify for the award posthumously, a recipient must be deceased at least five years.

While it won’t be possible to award Summitt with the gold medal right now, Duncan said he intends to see if there are other ways for Congress to honor her life and career.

“She has been honored about every way she can,” he said.

Duncan nominated Summitt for the Congressional Gold Medal back in 2014, just a couple of years after she ended her reign as the head coach of the UT woman’s basketball team.

The gold medal recognizes lasting achievements in the fields of arts, athletics, diplomacy, medicine, military service, public service, science, space exploration and others.

The first Congressional Gold Medal was awarded in 1776 to George Washington. Other recipients have included Walt Disney, Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Rev. Billy Graham, Ronald and Nancy Reagan and John Wayne.

Duncan and Summitt’s other admirers feel she certainly belongs in that class.

As the Lady Vols coach, Summitt became the nation’s winningest basketball coach — male or female — with 1,098 victories and eight national championships. In 2012, less than a year after being diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease, she stepped down and was named coach emeritus.

Summitt, who was just 64 when she died June 28, was recognized many times during her 38-year career. She was named NCAA Coach of the Year eight times and has been a member of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame since 1999.

In 2012, President Barack Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom during a standing-room-only ceremony at the White House. Along with the Congressional Gold Medal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest civilian honor.

At that ceremony, Summitt sat between rock star Bob Dylan and retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, also medal recipients, while Obama marveled about her career and hailed her as a role model for young girls across the country, including his own two daughters.

Duncan attended the White House ceremony and started his campaign to award her with the

Congressional Gold Medal a couple of years later. Sen. Lamar Alexander filed similar legislation in the Senate, but the failure to get the necessary sponsors in the House effectively halts the movement in both chambers.

Duncan said the difficulty he had getting lawmakers to sign onto his bill was really just a matter of timing.

“Right at that time, we started getting some bad publicity about some of the non-legislative resolutions honoring individuals,” he said. “There was getting to be almost too many of those types of things.”

Since Summitt had already received the Medal of Freedom, Duncan and his staff decided to no longer pursue the Congressional Gold Medal and look for other ways to pay tribute to her and her career.

Duncan said he intends to ask other members of Tennessee’s congressional delegation for ideas when Congress returns from its August recess.