BSA Description and History
Description of Scouting
Adventure! That's what Scouting is! (Official Boy Scout Handbook,
Chapter 1, Page 1)
In short, Scouting is a youth organization that uses a fun program to
promote character development, citizenship training, and mental and physical
fitness for every member.
The Boy Scouts of America makes Scouting available to our nation's youth
by chartering community organizations to operate Cub Scout Packs, Boy Scout
Troops, Varsity Scout Teams, and Explorer Posts. The chartered organization
must provide an adequate and safe meeting place and capable adult leadership,
and must adhere to the principles and policies of the BSA. The BSA local
council provides unit leader training, program ideas, camping facilities,
literature, and professional guidance for volunteer leaders.
Scouting's adult volunteers provide leadership at the unit, district,
council, and national levels. Many are parents of Scouts; many entered
Scouting as youth members.
How Scouting Came to America
The Story of a Good Turn, Boy Scout Handbook, Tenth Edition, Chapter 26,
Boy Scouts of America
How good must a Good Turn be to be good? Te answer is best given by
telling you the story of how Scouting came to America. It shows that it isn't
the size of a Good Turn that counts. What is important is the spirit with which
a Scout does a Good Turn.
"Do a Good Turn Daily" is the Scout Slogan.
One Day in 1909 in London, England, an American visitor, William D. Boyce, lost
his way in a dense fog. He Stopped under a street lamp and tried to figure out
where he was. A boy approached him and asked if he could be of help.
"You certainly can," said Boyce. He told the boy that he wanted to find a
certain business office in the center of the city.
"I'll take you there," said the boy.
When they got to the destination, Mr. Boyce reached into his pocket for a tip.
But the boy stopped him.
"No thank you, sir. I am a Scout. I won't take anything for helping."
"A Scout? And what might that be?" asked Boyce.
The boy told the American about himself and his brother Scouts. Boyce became
very interested. After finishing his errand, he had the boy take him to the
British Scouting office.
At the office, Boyce met Lord Robert Baden-Powell, the famous British general
who had founded the Scouting movement in Great Britain. Boyce was so impressed
with what he learned that he decided to bring Scouting home with him.
On February 8, 1910, Boyce and a group of outstanding leaders
founded the
Boy Scouts of America. From that day forth, Scouts have celebrated February 8
as the birthday of Scouting in the United States.
What happened to the boy who helped Mr. Boyce find his way in the fog? No one
knows. He had neither asked for money nor given his name, but he will never be
forgotten. His Good Turn helped bring the Scouting movement to our country.
In the British Scout Training Center at Gilwell Park, England, Scouts from the
United States erected a statue of an American buffalo in honor of this unknown
Scout. One Good Turn to one man became a Good Turn to millions
of American boys. Such is the power of a Good Turn.
Baden-Powell's Founding of Scouts
Here is some information on Famous BSA Scouts.
Founders of the BSA and Scouting
Robert Baden-Powell
As a youth, Robert Baden-Powell greatly enjoyed the
outdoors, learning about nature and how to live in
the wilderness. After returning as a military, hero
from service in Africa, Baden-Powell discovered
that English boys were reading the manual on
stalking and survival in the wilderness he had
written for his military regiment. Gathering ideas
from Ernest Thompson Seton, Daniel Carter Beard,
and others, he rewrote the manual as a nonmilitary
nature skill book and called it Scouting for Boys.
To test his ideas, Baden-Powell brought together 22
boys to camp at Brownsea Island, off the coast of
England. This historic campout was a success and
resulted in the advent of Scouting. Thus, the
imagination and inspiration of Baden-Powell, later
proclaimed Chief Scout of the World, brought
Scouting to youth the world over.
Ernest Thompson Seton
Born in Scotland, Ernest Thompson Seton immigrated
to America as a youth in the 1880s. His fascination
with the wilderness led him to become a naturalist,
an artist, and an author, and through his works he
influenced both youth and adults. Seton established
a youth organization called the Woodcraft Indians,
and his background of outdoor skills and interest
in youth made him a logical choice for the position
of first Chief Scout of the BSA in 1910. His many
volumes of Scoutcraft became an integral part of
Scouting, and his intelligence and enthusiasm
helped turn an idea into reality.
Daniel Carter Beard
Woodsman, illustrator, and naturalist, Daniel
Carter Beard was a pioneering spirit of the Boy
Scouts of America. Already 60 years old when the
Boy Scouts of America was formed, he became a
founder and merged it with his own boys'
organization, the Sons of Daniel Boone. As the
first national Scout commissioner, Beard helped
design the original Scout uniform and introduced
the elements of the First Class Scout badge. "Uncle
Dan," as he was known to boys and leaders, will be
remembered as a colorful figure dressed in buckskin
who helped form Scouting in the United States.
William D. Boyce
In 1909, Chicago publisher William D. Boyce lost
his way in a dense London fog. A boy came to his
aid and, after guiding the man, refused a tip,
explaining that as a Scout he would not take a tip
for doing a Good Turn. This gesture by an unknown
Scout inspired a meeting with Robert Baden-Powell,
the British founder of the Boy Scouts. As a result,
William Boyce incorporated the Boy Scouts of
America on February, 8, 1910. He also created the
Lone Scouts, which merged with the Boy Scouts of
America in 1924.
James E. West
James E. West was appointed the first Chief Scout
Executive of the Boy Scouts of America in 1911.
Although orphaned and physically handicapped, he
had the perseverance to graduate from law school
and become a successful attorney. This same
determination provided the impetus to help build
Scouting into the largest and most effective youth organization in the world. When he retired in
1943, Dr. West was recognized throughout the
country as the true architect of the Boy Scouts of America.
Source:
02-211
1995 Printing
Fact Sheet
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Famous Eagle Scouts
- Bill Alexander - US Rep from Arkansas
- Gary L. Anderson - US Rep from NY
- Neil Armstrong - astronaut, first man on moon, from Wapakoneta,
OH
- Charles E. Bennett - US Rep from Florida
- William Bennett - former Secretary of Education
- Bill Bradley - Pro basketball star and US Senator from NJ
- James Brady - press sec to Pres. Reagan
- Milton A. Caniff - comic strip artist "Steve Canyon"
- Phil Condit - CEO Boeing Aircraft, Troop 226, Walnut Creek, CA
- John W. Creighton, Jr. - President & CEO of Weyerhaeuser
Company
- William E. Dannemeyer - US Rep from Cal.
- William Devries - MD, transplanted first artificial heart
- Michael Dukakis - former governor of Massachusetts
- Arthur Eldred - First Eagle Scout
- Gerald Ford - U.S. President (1st Eagle to be pres.), "Junior"
Ford of Troop 15, Grand Rapids, MI in 1927, 26 MBs--inncluding
Civics, "Boy Scouts was invaluable in shaping my life. James
Lovell - Navy pilot and astronaut, President of NASA. Flew on
Gemini 7, 12 & Apollo 8, 13 At one time had seen more sunrises
than any other human being
- Richard Lugar - Senator from Indiana (presidential canidate
1996)
- J. Willard Marriott, Jr. - Pres. Marriott Corp.
- Sam Nunn - US Senator from Georgia
- Ellison Onizuka - Astronaut aboard the space shuttle Challenger
- H. Ross Perot - self-made billionaire and presidential canidate
- J. J. Pickle - US Rep from Texas, proudly displays his Eagle
plaque inside his office
- Samuel R. Pierce - former Sec. Housing & Urban Development
- Harrison Salisbury - Pulitzer Prize winning author
- William Sessions - foremer FBI director
- Steven Spielberg - Movie producer, from Scottsdale, AZ, made
a movie of his troop while getting Photography MB. Helped to design
requirements for the cinematography MB.
- Wallace Stegner - writer and college professor, won Pulitzer
Prize in 1972 for "Angle of Repose"
- Percy Sutton - Attorney, Ch. of Board of City Broadcasting
Corp.
- John Tesh - TV celebrity and pianist
Eagle Facts
Only 1.2 million boys have reached Eagle in over 80 years (15000
a year, roughly). Only 2 in 100 that joins Scouts make Eagle--that's
0.5% of the male population.
FAMOUS SCOUTS, but not Eagles
- Henry Aaron - baseball player, home run king
- Richard Dean Anderson - taught Reptile Study, actor
- Charles F. Barber - CEO of American Smelting & refining
- Bill Clinton - Cub Scout, President of US
- Harrison Ford - Life, taught Reptile Study, actor "Indiana
Jones"
- Bill Gates - Life, founder of Microsoft Corp.
- David Hartman - TV personality
- John F Kennedy - first US President who was a Scout
- Branford Marsalis - Life Scout, Jazz musician
- Merlin Olson - Pro football player and sportscaster
- Eddie Rabbitt - Country & Western singer
- John Ritter - actor, son of singer Tex Ritter
- Richard Roundtree - actor
- Nolan Ryan - pro baseball pitcher
- Alberto Salazar - Life, 3 time winner NY marathon
- James Stewart - actor, USAF B. General, B-17 pilot in WWII
- Joe Theisman - Life, former QB, Washington Redskins
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