Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program division of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Since it was first awarded to Arthur Rose Eldred on August 21, 1912, Eagle Scout has been earned by more than two million youth.[3] The list below includes notable recipients.
As of 2014[update], requirements include earning at least 21 merit badges and demonstrating Scout Spirit, leadership, and service. The requirements include an Eagle Scout Service Project where the Scout must further demonstrate service and leadership.[4] Eagle Scouts are recognized with a medal and a cloth badge that visibly recognizes the accomplishments of the Scout. Eagle Palms are a further recognition, awarded for completing additional tenure, leadership, and merit badge requirements. Typically adult volunteers who have received the Eagle award as a youth wear a smaller patch depicting a square knot.
The Distinguished Eagle Scout Award (DESA) is bestowed to Eagle Scouts for nationally renowned distinguished service in their profession and to the community for a period of at least 25 years after earning the Eagle Scout rank.[5] Since its introduction in 1969 by the National Eagle Scout Association, the DESA has been awarded to over 2,000 Eagle Scouts.[a]
The NESAOutstanding Eagle Scout Award (NOESA) is bestowed to Eagle Scouts who have distinguished themselves at a local-to-regional level or who have not yet met the 25-year tenure requirement to be considered for a DESA. This award was introduced in 2011.[6]
Air Force officer; first recipient of the Air Force Cross; the only person killed by enemy fire during the Cuban Missile Crisis when his U-2 spy aircraft was shot down over Cuba
Representative (1948–1955) from Texas; senator from Texas (1971–1993); nominee for Vice President of the United States (1988); chairman of the Senate Finance Committee; Secretary of the Treasury (1993–1994)
Adventure guide, author, photographer, speaker and trail designer; wrote the 10th, 11th and 12th editions of the Boy Scout Handbook and the 4th edition of the Fieldbook
Air Force colonel; astronaut who participated in four flights of the Space Shuttle–STS-8, STS-39, STS-53, and STS-61-A; first African American in space; designated as the emissary to return the Challenger flag to a Boy Scout troop
United States Marine Corps lieutenant general, combat veteran of World War II and the Korean War, decorated for his actions during the Battle of Iwo Jima and in the Battle of Chosin Reservoir
Lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps during World War II who was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life" during the Battle of Kwajalein
First Eagle Scout; agricultural official and executive; Navy veteran of World War I; received BSA's Bronze Honor Medal for lifesaving; first of four generations of Eagle Scouts
First Region Scout Executive, Region Nine (Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico), B.S.A. (1919–1945); Silver Antelope Award recipient; General Manager of Philmont Scout Ranch and Phillips Properties, B.S.A. (1945–1949); Assistant to the Chief Scout Executive (1949–1952).
Aviator and adventurer known for his five world record non-stop circumnavigations of the Earth: as a long-distance solo balloonist, as a sailor, and as a solo airplane pilot; president of the National Eagle Scout Association; Silver Buffalo Award recipient
Offensive coordinator for the New York Jets; head coach of the Buffalo Bills (2010–2012), Dallas Cowboys (1998–1999) and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (2002–2007)
Retired professional baseball executive; general manager of four Major League Baseball teams with three World Series championships; inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011.
Former U.S. Army general; CEO of Burdeshaw Associates; member of the Board of Directors of the Army Historical Foundation; member of the Defense Science Board
Danish Knight-Scout considered to be the father of American Boy Scouting and the Scoutmaster to the World due to his prolific writings and teachings in the areas of troop and patrol structure, training, and the development of the original American adaptation of the Wood Badge program
Co-director of the Massachusetts Space Grant Consortium at MIT's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics; astronaut who flew on shuttle missions STS-51-D, STS-35, STS-46, STS-61 and STS-75
Jurist and public official; Associate Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court (1994–2000); Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court (2000–2006)
CEO of Seattle Mariners baseball team; chairman of Nintendo of America; in 1956 he posed as one of the Boy Scouts for The Scoutmaster painting by Norman Rockwell
Tuskegee Airman and a career officer in the Air Force for 30 years; holds an Air Force record of 409 fighter combat missions flown in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam
Venture philanthropist, founder of the McLaughlin Prize for Research in Ethics in Accounting and Taxation, head of the order of the Knights of St. John
Decorated Marine Corps combat veteran of World War II, retired as major general; renowned attorney and progressive reform Governor of Arkansas (1949–1953)
Former American football tight end/wide receiver in the National Football League for the New York Giants, Denver Broncos, and the Chicago Bears; won a Super Bowl ring as the starting tight end and a member of the 1985 Chicago Bears
Army Ranger who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Korean War; national programs coordinator of Outward Bound; established Discovery; created the Discovery Program at The Westminster Schools; the executive vice president of MicroBilt
Representative from Illinois (1963–1969); White House Chief of Staff (1974–1975); Secretary of Defense (1975–1977, 2001–2006); Ambassador to NATO (1973–1974)
President of Boston University (1971–1996); Chancellor of Boston University (1996–2003); President Emeritus of Boston University (2003–2012); candidate for governor of Massachusetts (1990)
Antarctic explorer and geographer who took part in six Antarctic expeditions, having first gone representing the Boy Scouts of America as an Eagle Scout; later helped develop the principle of wind chill
Marine Corps officer, recipient of the 2012 George Polk Award for War Reporting, the 2012 McClatchy Newspapers President's Award, and the 2015 National Press Club John Aubuchon Freedom of the Press Award
Assistant secretary for Civil Works for the Army; secretary for industrial relations for California; representative from California (1971–1975); member of the California state assembly; professor at Caltech and Stanford University
Army first lieutenant; first commissioned officer in the U.S. armed forces to publicly refuse deployment to Iraq, saying that he believed the Iraq War to be illegal
The Boy Scouts did not track the race of scouts who earned the rank of Eagle. For many years it was thought that Edgar Cunningham, who earned his rank in 1926 as a member of Troop 12 in Waterloo, Iowa in what was then Wapsipinicon Area Council, was the first black recipient of the Eagle rank.[359][360]
In February 2020, it was discovered that Harry Cooper of the Kansas City Council, became an Eagle Scout in September 1920.[361] In the Kansas City Council (now the Heart of America Council) newsletter dated 1920, Harry Cooper of Troop 92 was listed as a new Eagle Scout as of September. The newsletter lists him as the only African American Eagle Scout in Kansas City, one of only ten Eagle Scouts in Kansas City, Missouri at the time.[362][361]
In March 2020, further research showed that the Eagle Scout court of honor for Hamilton Bradley of the Rome Council, was held on December 19, 1919, in Rome, New York. This makes Bradley the earliest known black Eagle Scout.[363]
Dr. Frank "Tick" Coleman, who earned his Eagle in 1926 is one of the first four known African-American Eagle Scouts.[364]
Incorrectly regarded as an Eagle Scout
These persons, while notable in themselves, are sometimes incorrectly listed as having earned the award:
Henry "Hank" Aaron; retired baseball player and member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. He is a recipient of the Silver Buffalo Award. He is often thought to be an Eagle Scout because of an advertisement he did for the BSA.[365][366]
Bill Gates; Life Scout and co-founder of Microsoft.[372] He is sometimes confused with his father, William H. Gates Sr. who is a Distinguished Eagle Scout.[52] He is often thought to be an Eagle Scout because of an advertisement he did for the BSA.[367]