Gil Talmadge

In the early days of Scouting, boys were so eager to become Scouts that they sometimes set out to recruit their own adult leaders. That was how E. Urner Goodman became involved with Scouting.

One day in 1911, two young Scouts, Gilson M. Talmadge and Boyd Johnson went to Urner Goodman’s parent's house and asked him to join their troop as Scoutmaster. Urner accepted the Scout’s offer and became the Scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 1, the first chartered troop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Gil Talmadge many years later would help to found Oo Yum Buli Lodge in the Berkeley-Contra Costa Area Council in California. He also initiated the Lodge Award which now bears his name to stimulate the use of pioneering skills in "getting the boys off the ground and out of the dust" when camping.

Gil attended the 1975 NOAC and during a speech by Goodman, the story of how Gil came to his house was told. Goodman referred to Gil Talmadge as “my first Scout, who got me into Scouting” and later he referred to him as the “Founder’s Finder”. Gil received the Distinguished Service Award in 1979.

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Wilson Elected President

On March 4, 1913, Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated the 28^th President of the United States. Boy Scouts provided crowd control for the inauguration and have served in that capacity at every inauguration since. While leading the nation during World War I, President Wilson relied heavily on the Boy Scouts of America to support the war effort at home. This included community service, selling war bonds and other activities.

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Taft Elected President

On March 4, 1909, William Howard Taft was inaugurated as the 27^th President of the United States. President Taft became the first Honorary President of the Boy Scouts of America in 1911. Every President since Taft has served Scouting in this role. Taft would later become the only president to also serve as a Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

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First Membership Certificate

In 1910, the first year of the Boy Scouts of America the BSA did not “Register” Scouts. Instead each Scout was “Certified.” The early BSA was still using the original British Boy Scout terms and symbols. Instead of receiving a registration card they received a document that certified them as a Scout. The BSA symbol printed on the certificate was the British Scout symbol, not the familiar BSA trefoil. Perhaps most unusual was usage of the British Scout Law. As a result the 1910 Certificate was printed with “The Nine Points of the Scout Law” and not our familiar twelve. Among the original BSA Nine Points of the Scout Law was the Eighth Point, “A Scout smiles and whistles under all circumstances.”

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