Old Professional Scouters

[Kahuna 172]

Aloha,

 

As some of you know, I am gathering material for a book on the history of professional scouting, with the emphasis on stories of individual men (and women, except I am more interested in the early days of the BSA, when there were no women execs).

 

My question to members of the forum is: do you know any older retired professionals who would be willing to let me interview them or do you know any stories about professional scouters that would be noteworthy and which you would feel comfortable sharing with me, either publicly or privately? You can contact me privately if you wish.

 

By way of disclaimer, my book is intended to be a for profit enterprise, but I am not doing it for money, as it obviously will not be a New York Times bestseller. Secondly, it is intended to be a positive book about the profession, not an expose`.

 

Finally, I will be happy to share my bona fides with you or any retired professional who would be interested in being included.

 

Thanks in advance for any information provided.

 

Win Davis

[eaglescout2004 11]

I am looking into becoming a professional scouter. Could you post the info about your book when you are done? I would love to read it

 

 

NN

[Kahuna 172]

Gladly. Maybe sell you a signed copy? :-) It will be a while before it's ready, though. I am just beginning the interview process.

[frank10 12]

Kahuna,

How did this turn out?

[Kahuna 172]

It's still very much an ongoing project. I have bios on about 20 old-timers, famous and unknown, mostly gleaned from council histories. A hundred or so book pages without photos and footnotes. I was able to interview a couple and working now on some local guys who were legendary in these parts.

 

I'm still seeking input. Not long ago, a contact put me in touch with a former Regional Executive who is still alive, so there are still some out there. My problem is just to find them or their bios. There are a lot of council histories, but some are very scarce and some are quite expensive.

[Buffalo Skipper 13]

Kahuna,

I may be able to put you in touch with a gentleman by the name of Vick Vickery. He is a SM in his mid 80s, and retired from professional service a few years ago. Shortly after his retirement, he was awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award (not your everyday recognition for professional scouters...).

 

The scuttlebutt was that when he was presented the DESA, he was offered the position of national president, but he turned it down, citing that he had a troop to look after now (the oldest troop in the council), which was more important. I don't know how true that story really is, but even our SE treats him with a unique reverence. Let me touch base with him, and if it is all right with him, I will forward to you his contact info.

[Miki101 14]

Kahuna,

 

You might also think about former National HQ pro and author of "Eagle Scouts in Action," H.M. "Smoky" Eggers. He's in his 80's and extremely active and still working for BSA initiatives in his "spare time." Just let me know.

 

David C. Scott

[Kahuna 172]

Thanks to both. I have PM'd you both.

 

BTW, I now have a small website up at menofschiff.org. There's one bio on there and some info about Schiff.

 

Anybody else?

[Buffalo Skipper 13]

Kahuna,

I know we traded PMs earlier, but I wanted to show the forum this (if they are interested). It is a localnewspaper article from Thanksgiving Day on Vick Vickery. I don't know how long this link will stay active in the paper's archive.

http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008811270352

Enjoy!

[Kahuna 172]

That's a great article. Thanks for posting.