Notable Names in Scouting Trivia Quiz

Answer: W. D. Boyce

William Boyce, an American businessman who was helped through the fogs of London by a British Boy Scout, founded the Boy Scouts of America in 1910. However, he disagreed with the Chief Scout Executive regarding the opportunities for rural boys to join a Scouting program, so he left the BSA and founded the LSA in 1915.

The two groups were merged in 1924. The Lone Scout program continues today for boys who cannot participate in a nearby troop.

Answer: Daniel Carter Beard

The Gold Eagle Badge was replaced by the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.
Dan Beard founded the Sons of Daniel Boone, a youth organization based on American frontier traditions. The Sons of Daniel Boone merged into the Boy Scouts of America at its founding in 1910, and Beard served the BSA as a National Scout Commissioner for many years.

Answer: Waite Philips

Waite Philips was a member of the family that founded Philips Petroleum. Philips donated land over the years to the BSA, starting in 1938 with an initial grant of 35,857 acres. By 1941, the total land grant to the BSA was 127,935 acres, and included Villa Philmonte, a large residence he had built on the property.

In addition to the land, Philips donated to the BSA an office tower in Tulsa, Oklahoma to fund the upkeep of Philmont.

Answer: Norman Rockwell

The only salaried job that Norman Rockwell ever had after leaving art school was working for the Boy Scouts of America's "Boy's Life" magazine. He left "Boy's Life in 1915 to work for "The Saturday Evening Post", but he still painted Scout-themed paintings for the rest of his life. For 52 years, until his death in 1977, his Scout artwork was featured in an annual calendar published by Brown & Bigelow.

Answer: Gerald Ford

Every President of the United States of America, since the Boy Scouts of America was founded during William Taft's presidency, has served as the Honorary President of the BSA. Former Presidents of the US serve as Honorary Vice-Presidents of the BSA.

Gerald Ford was the first Eagle Scout to become President of the United States.

Answer: Ernest Thompson Seton

"The Birch Bark Roll of the Woodcraft Indians" heavily influenced the first edition of the Boy Scouts of America's handbook. Seton merged his Woodcraft Indians into the BSA in 1910, and became the new organization's Chief Scout.

Seton resigned in 1915 both due to philosophical clashes with Daniel Carter Beard and James E. West, and because the federal charter that the BSA was pursuing required that its board members be US citizens. Seton, a British subject, eventually became a US citizen in 1931.

Answer: E. Urner Goodman

E. Urner Goodman served as the Camp Director of Treasure Island Camp in the Philadelphia Council of the BSA. Together with his Assistant Director, Carroll A. Edson, Goodman founded the OA in 1915 to encourage Scouts to live the principles embodied in the Scout Oath and Laws. The OA draws heavily on Native American tradition.

Answer: Lord Robert Baden-Powell

Lord Robert Baden-Powell found, upon returning home from the Second Boer War in Africa, that youth had started reading the military training manual. He went on to write "Scouting for Boys", which became the basis of the Scouting movement. In August 1907, he held a camp for boys on Brownsea Island. This is widely recognized as the founding of the Scouting movement.

Baden-Powell is buried in Nyeri, Kenya, and his tombstone bears a circle with a dot in the center. This is the trail symbol for "I have gone home."

Answer: Oscar de la Renta

De la Renta donated four years of his time to develop a new look for the BSA uniforms. He wanted them to be stylish and yet practical. The new uniforms incorporated a two-tone look that had already become widely accepted worldwide. Another new addition to the uniform was the introduction of shoulder loops.

The various colors of these shoulder loops indicate which level of Scouting the wearer represents.

Answer: James E. West

West was hired by the BSA to be its first Executive Secretary in 1911. Later that year he changed his title to Chief Scout Executive. He was often criticized by the founders of the BSA for being a lawyer and city dweller, but his skills proved invaluable in organizing the BSA during its infancy. One of his first priorities was to publish a handbook for the program, "The Official Handbook for Boys".

James E. West was originally hired for a period of six months, and he had every intention of going back to his law practice when the time was up, but he remained Chief Scout Executive for 34 years.