Why Join Scouting?

Q: 12 Americans have walked on the Moon.
What do 11 of them have in common?

A: 11 out of 12 American "Moon-walkers" were Boy Scouts!!!

Why Join Scouting? Here are few good reasons!

As you review the impressive "where-are-they-now" list of former scouts,
envision what scouting can do for your son.

Boy Scout Alumni Percentages
For every 100 young men who join...
Columbia Shuttle Tribute
Famous Eagle Scouts
Famous Scouts, but not Eagles

Boy Scout Alumni are: back to top of page

	71% of football captains
	65% of basketball captains
	85% of student council presidents
	88% of school newspaper editors
	77% of editors of school annuals
	75% of business managers of school publications
	80% of junior class presidents
	89% of senior class presidents
	65% of college graduates
	72% of Rhodes Scholars
	75% of Military Academy graduates
	65% of U.S. Congress
	85% of airline pilots
	85% of FBI agents
	26 of the first 29 astronauts were Boy Scouts
	11 of the 12 astronauts who walked on the moon were Boy Scouts
	Over half of the 108 Scout astronauts attained Star, Life, or Eagle ranks

For every 100 young men who join the Boy Scouts: back to top of page

	12 will have their first contact with a church
	5 will earn their religious emblem
	2 will enter the clergy
	1 will use Scout skills to save a life
	1 will use Scout skills to save his own life
	2 will become Eagle Scouts
	18 will enter professions first learned through the Merit Badge system
	17 will become Scouting volunteers and pass their skills, inspiration, and leadership along to countless youths
	28 will develop hobbies started in Scouting that will give them lifelong interests
	And . . . Only rarely will one appear in a criminal or juvenile court!
	And yet, amazingly Scouting reaches only 25 percent of the youth in the country!

We mourn the loss of the brave crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia and ask that you keep their families in your prayers. All four of the American men of the Space Shuttle Columbia were involved in Scouting in their youth, with pilot William McCool achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. Richard Husband earned the rank of 2nd Class. Michael Anderson was a Webelos Scout. David Brown was a Life Scout as a youth. Laurel Salton Clark was a Girl Scout.

FAMOUS EAGLE SCOUTS back to top of page

	Bill Alexander - U.S. Representative from Arkansas
	Gary L. Ackerman - U.S. Representative from NY
	Neil Armstrong - astronaut, first man on moon, from Wapakoneta, OH
	Henry Aaron - Baseball player, home run king - the Mobile Press Register quoted Henry as saying that the greatest positive influence in his life was his involvement in scouting
	Charles E. Bennett - U.S. Representative from Florida
	William Bennett - Former Secretary of Education
	Michael Bloomberg - Mayor of New York City, founder of Bloomberg News
	Bill Bradley - Pro basketball star and U.S. Senator from NJ
	James Brady - Former Press Secretary to President Reagan
	Milton A. Caniff - Comic strip artist "Steve Canyon"
	Barber B. Conable - President, World Bank
	John W. Creighton, Jr. - President & CEO of Weyerhaeuser Company
	William E. Dannemeyer - U.S. Representative from Cal.
	William Devries - M.D., transplanted first artificial heart
	Michael Dukakis - Former governor of Massachusetts
	Arthur Eldred - First Eagle Scout
	David Farabee - Texas State Representative
	Gerald Ford - U.S. President (1st Eagle to be President)
	Steven Fossett - Tried several times to fly solo around the world in a hot air balloon and finally did it in 2002, won the Chicago to Mackinaw boat races, competed in the Iditarod dog race, and competed in several iron man triathelons, and among other things lives the Scouting mottos both Cub and Boy Scout by doing his best and being prepared
	Steven W. Lindsey - Astronaut - He was the pilot for STS-95 when John Glen returned to space as a Senator. He made eagle in troop 161 in Temple City, California.
	Gary Locke, Governor of the State of Washington, the first Chinese-American Governor in the contiguous United States, and selected as a Distinguished Eagle Scout by NESA
	James Lovell - Navy pilot and astronaut, President of National Eagle Scout Association. Flew on Gemini 7, 12 & Apollo 8, 13 At one time had seen more lunar sunrises than any other human being
	Richard Lugar - Senator from Indiana (presidential candidate 1996)
	J. Willard Marriott, Jr. - President, Marriott Corp.
	CDR William McCool, USN - Astronaut, Pilot of U.S. Space Shuttle Columbia.
	Sam Nunn - U.S. Senator from Georgia
	Ellison Onizuka - Astronaut aboard the U.S. Space Shuttle Challenger
	H. Ross Perot - Self-made billionaire and presidential candidate
	Rick Perry - Governor, State of Texas
	J. J. Pickle - U.S. Representative from Texas, proudly displays his Eagle plaque inside his office
	Samuel R. Pierce - Former Sec. Housing & Urban Development
	Donald Rumsfeld - Secretary of Defense
	Harrison Salisbury - Pulitzer Prize winning author
	Jeff Sessions - Junior Senator from Alabama is an Eagle Scout from the troop in Camden, AL.
	William Sessions - Former FBI director
	Sam Skinner - Secretary of Energy during the Bush administration and now CEO of Commonwealth Edison
	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, Chairman of the Board of City Broadcasting Corp.
	John Tesh - TV celebrity and pianist
	Sam Walton - Founder, Wal-Mart

Eagle Facts

Only 1.2 million boys have reached Eagle in over 80 years (15,000 a year, roughly). Only 2 in 100 that joins Scouts make Eagle--that's 0.512% of the male population.

FAMOUS SCOUTS, but not Eagles back to top of page

	Richard Dean Anderson - taught Reptile Study, actor
	Charles F. Barber - CEO of American Smelting & refining
	George W. Bush - Cub Scout, President of the United States
	Bill Clinton - Cub Scout, President of the United States
	Harrison Ford - Life, taught Reptile Study, actor "Indiana Jones"
	Bill Gates - Life, founder of Microsoft Corp.
	Richard Gere - Actor
	David Hartman - TV personality
	John F Kennedy - First US President who was a Scout
	Branford Marsalis - Life Scout, Jazz musician
	Paul McCartney - Rock N Roll, Beatles (UK)
	Jim Morrison - Rock N Roll
	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
	John Schneider - Actor, Dukes of Hazard
	James Stewart - actor, USAF B. General, B-17 pilot in WWII
	Joe Theisman - Life, former QB, Washington Redskins

This site was last updated 09/28/05