76. Dr. E. Urner Goodman, the founder of the BSA’s national honor society, the Order of the Arrow, was once a volunteer Scoutmaster of Troop 1 in Philadelphia.
77. Early Scouting leaders James E. West, Daniel Carter Beard, and Ernest Thompson Seton sat on first Eagle Scout Arthur Eldred’s Eagle board of review.
78. The Kansas City Area Council has had an exceptionally productive advancement program and won the distinction of “Most Eagle Scouts” from 1912 to 1969, totaling 13,943. The council still ranks in the top 10 today.
79. Edward VIII, former Prince of Wales, is the only person who received the BSA Silver Buffalo Award (1929) and later became a king. The Silver Buffalo Award is awarded for distinguished service to youth.
80. On September 10, 1910, S. F. Lester of Troy, New York, became the first person to hold the Scouting leadership position of Scoutmaster (commissioned by the BSA).
81. Today, approximately 100,000 Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Venturers with disabilities are registered with the Boy Scouts of America in more than 4,000 units chartered to community organizations.
82. In 1912, five of the 23 Eagle Scouts came from West Shokam, New York.
83. Chess legend Bobby Fischer was the author of a chess column called “Checkmate” in Boys’ Life from 1966 until 1969.
84. Eagle Scouts who served as Chief Scout Executive include Joseph Brunton Jr. (1960–1966), Alden Barber (1967–1976), Harvey Price (1976-1979), James Tarr (1979–1984), Jere Ratcliffe (1993–2000), and current Chief Scout Executive Robert Mazzuca.
85. Charles Scruggs of Cuero, Texas, was reportedly the first recipient of the Honor Medal for lifesaving in 1911.
86. Ernest Lawrence was the first Boy Scout to have a chemical element named in his honor: lawrencium. He was also the first former Scout to win the Nobel Prize for Physics, in 1939.
87. In June 1942, Time magazine dubbed the BSA “Public Scavenger Service #1” for its outstanding wartime collection drives.
88. It is believed that Robert Baden-Powell and W. D. Boyce never met.
89. Raymond Cobb was 25 when he reportedly became the first “Complete Scout,” completing all merit badges and earning Eagle, Ace, Ranger, Silver, and Quartermaster Awards.
90. The seven Mercury Project astronauts designed the original requirements for the Space Exploration merit badge.
91. Mickey Mouse, who was created in 1928, was the authorized name of a patrol in the 1930 Bronx Council Troop 246.
92. “Uncle Dan” Beard wrote that his greatest honor was having a mountain named after him—Mount Beard, which adjoins Mount McKinley.
93. During the Depression, the BSA employed special railroad executives who started and supported Scout troops in some 300 rural communities along railroad lines.
94. Ralph Bunche was the first Boy Scout to earn the Nobel Peace Prize, in 1950. (Robert Baden-Powell was nominated in 1939 but did not win.)
95. In 1952, the World Book children’s encyclopedia published a special book on each of the merit badge subjects.
96. The BSA was the first youth-serving organization to have a U.S. combat vessel, the USS Esteem, dedicated in its honor. It launched in December 1952.
97. During World War II, Scouts collected 7,000 tons of clothes for people in Europe and Asia.
98. In 1964, 41 Scouts were the first to earn merit badges for Oceanography, presented to them by Rear Adm. Denys W. Knoll.
99. The pages of Boys’ Life have been home to noteworthy writers such as Alex Haley, Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Bradbury, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Van Wyck Brooks, Ernest Thompson Seton, Bobby Fischer, Catherine Drinker Bowen, Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Arthur B. Reeve, and John Knowles.
100. Presidents John F. Kennedy, Gerald R. Ford, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama were Scouts as youth, and Jimmy Carter was a Scoutmaster. President Kennedy was the first Scout to become president; Gerald Ford was the first (and to date, only) Eagle Scout president.
Thank you to the BSA for putting together the 100 Things You Didn’t Know About Scouting from which these posts were taken from.
