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The first two Eagle Scouts from
the Concho Valley Council were Lee Woods and George Brown, both of Troop
1 of Del Rio. Wood received his award on July 18, 1921, and Brown
within a few days there of. Woods was later awarded the State Eagle Scout
scholarship at the University of Texas, where he took the degrees of Bachelor
of Journalism and Bachelor of Arts. The third Eagle Scout was Charles Leel
of Uvalde who earned his award in 1922. We believe that he was a
member of Troop 1 of Uvalde.
The only other known Eagle
Scout in West Texas before 1927 was Hubert Baldwin, a 16 year old of 215
West Ave. B in San Angelo who earned his Eagle in 1926 and received this
honor in Shawnee, Oklahoma. It took him four years to accumulate
the twenty-one merit badges that were required for the honor. His
parents moved to San Angelo after he received his Eagle and he became a
member of Troop 3 of the First Presbyterian Church.
It was not until early December
1927, when twelve Scouts appeared before an examining board, made up of
local Scoutmasters, that the new Concho Valley Council produced its own
Eagle Scouts. Passed by the board that evening were:
Willard Crotty and
John H. Jones of Troop 1 and Taylor Cole of Troop 2; Dwight Hunter Jr.
, Sam Scheuber and Ford Boulware of Troop 3, Louis Gallemore and Lynn Metalfe
of Troop 4, and Luther Coulter, Bomar Horton, Robert Hodges and Jake Wardlaw
of Troop 7.
The twelve Eagle Scouts were
awarded their badges at a Scout Week Court of Honor held February 8, 1927,
at the Tom Green County Court House. In addition to the Scouts from
San Angelo present for the court some 65 Scouts from Miles, Bronte, Christoval
and Ozona were also there.
The Guards of Honor from
each of the troops escorted their Eagle Scouts to the Court of Honor and
with an archway of American and Troop Flags a most impressive ceremony
was held. The Eagle Scout candle investiture was then said by Brice
Draper, Scout Executive. Each Eagle Scout, individually, reconsecrated
himself to the Scout Oath. John Y. Rust, president of the Council,
then presented the Eagle badges. The colors of all the troops were
then amassed in the square and the DeMolay Band played "America" while
the audience stood with bowed heads. The ceremony was the climax
of a Court of Honor in which the DeMolay Band presented a concert and several
other awards were presented.
The twelve Eagle Scouts,
so honored at the Court of Honor, were required to pass twenty-one merit
badges. To become eligible for the merit badge tests, the applicants
first had to pass the Tenderfoot, Second Class and First Class tests, requiring
a minimum of ninety days. Each of the merit badges comprised a set
of 10 to 20 requirements in the 70 subjects of pre-vocational training
that they were intended to cover.
The Eagle Scout badge was
awarded to a First Class Scout who had a record of satisfactory service
as a First Class Scout for a period of a full year, showing that he had
actually put into practice the ideals and principles of the Scout Oath
and Law, the motto "Be Prepared" and the Daily Good Turn and had made an
earnest effort to develop his leadership ability.
He must have earned the merit
badge tests in twenty-one subjects which included First Aid, Swimming,
Life Saving, Personal Health, Public Health, Cooking, Camping, Civics,
Bird Study, Pathfinding, Pioneering, Athletics or Physical Development,
with nine additional merit badges.
First Eagle Scout Outside of San Angelo
The first Scout outside of
San Angelo to earn the Eagle Award was August Lehmann of Christoval.
He earned this coveted award later in 1927. Armistead Rust, Larue
Avera, Clovis Rogers, George McCall, Dick Arnold, Ralph Logan and A. A.
Woolridge also received their Eagles in 1927.
By 1928 we began to see more
Scouts outside of San Angelo receive the Eagle Award. They included
George Yamini of McCamey, Jack Walcher of Rankin, Woodrow Leonard of Bronte,
Conrade Geeslin and Paul Mann of Brady. Adults could earn the Eagle
Award, too, in those days and in 1931 Brice W. Draper, the local Scout
Executive, received the award.
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