A glance at the past 75 years shows that the Church has been more than just the first official sponsor of Scouting in the United States - it has been a partner with the Boy Scouts of America in the development of the movement.
Several programs that today fall under the Scouting umbrella owe their origins in part, at least, to the Church, Church members, or Church-sponsored units.Shortly after Scouting began in England around 1907, the program bridged the Atlantic Ocean and caught on independently in various places in the United States.
Veteran Scouter Fred Reese, 88, of Kanab, Utah, who has been a registered Scout or Scouter for nearly 78 years, said the first troop in Utah, of which he was a member, was sponsored by the National Guard. This troop paraded the streets of Salt Lake City in uniform, attracting considerable attention.
Almost immediately after this troop began, others, including those sponsored by LDS wards, came into existence later in 1910.
By this time, Scouting had drawn the attention of Church leaders. The movement was investigated by the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association, which officially recognized MIA Scouting for boys 12 to 18 years of age on Nov. 29, 1911. In May 1913, the Church was issued a charter from the Boy Scouts of America and became the first official sponser of Scouting in the United States.
Reese said during the years he has seen the benefits of the program in the lives of many scouts. Once, he recalled, one of his Scouts, Ray Rumel, pulled a young woman from a stream where she had become trapped in weeds and branches. The young man resuscitated her, "and at the moment, decided to become a doctor."
Another early Scout in the Church was Wallace F. Bennett, 88, former U.S. senator from Utah.
In 1913, Bennett recalled, a special group of Scouts was selected from throughout the Salt Lake Valley to walk the last portion of the route covered by the Mormon pioneers who entered the valley in 1847. The 14-year-old Bennett, then a member of the Salt Lake 20th Ward, was among the hikers.
The morning of July 24, Pioneer Day, they hiked over Little Mountain, and down the lower portion of Emigration Canyon into Salt Lake City. They were met officially at Liberty Park with a celebration.
Bennett, however, did not go all the way to Liberty Park. His home was at the head of Emigration Canyon, so he caught a railroad train, which ran up the canyon, to his home, thinking he would have no way to get there if he went to the park. His parents, however, were at the park to meet him. By the time he had traveled back down the canyon and to the park, the celebration was over. "I went home to meet two very angry parents," he said.
Bennett never attained the rank of Tenderfoot Scout. However, after his retirement from the Senate, he became an active leader in the Great Salt Lake Council. He is scheduled to be honored Feb. 14 as one of the first Scouts in the Church by the Salt Lake 20th Ward, where he is a member of the high priests group.
Over the years, Scouting has enjoyed fervent support from Church leaders, many of whom have been national leaders.
Presidents George Albert Smith, David O. McKay, Harold B. Lee, Spencer W. Kimball and Ezra Taft Benson all received the Silver Buffalo, the highest award for Scouting in the United States. President Kimball also received the Silver World Award, the highest from the international Scouting organization.
The Church has pioneered the development and implementation of Scouting programs for boys in younger and older age groups.
In 1928, the Vanguard program was inaugurated in the YMMIA for Scouts ages 16-18. The National Council patterned the Explorer program after the Church's Vangard movement in 1933, and two years later, Vanguards became Explorers.
A similar sequence occurred with Cub Scouting, according to a report in the Church News of Feb. 14, 1948. Cub Scouting was was originally taken from the program offered by the Primary Association for younger boys, the news story stated. The national Council's Cub Scout program was approved by the First Presidency for adoption by the Primary in December 1952. The following year, the Guide Patrol, part of the Boy Scout Troop but operated under direction of the Primary, was implemented. Later, it was called the Blazer program.
More recently, in 1974, a Church member, J.D. Mortensen conceived of the Varsity program for boys 14 and 15 years old. The Boy Scouts of America tested the program in predominantly LDS Scouting units in the Intermountain Area, and adopted it in 1983. The Church then appoved it for all LDS units.
As Scouting in the Church enters its fourth quarter-century, the words given to a group of Scouters Feb. 8, 1947, by President George Albert Smith, a member of the National Executive Committee for many years, continue to apply: "Scouting will give your boy the association and companionship of good men. That is what is intended. In the community where you live, see to it that good men lead the Scouts and happiness will be the result."
