https://www.kiakimamuseum.org/files/original/c251f9c23b05869163395808508c0d37.pdf a0641127cc433f2c7bb130394b2a7153 PDF Text Text rScoutmast~--for half-cent . dy' Irwin cited ith ame troop By Steve Gaither Staff Reporter Robert L. 'Buddy' Irwin has been a scoutmaster with the same troop for 50 years. It's been a great way for a 77year-old man to retain some boyish youth. "My name is Robert L., but they all call me Buddy. That's the way I want it. We become buddies and that's the name of the game." Irwin will be honored for his 50 years of service to Chickasaw Council Troop 97 of the Boy Scouts of America at 2 p.m. Sunday at Broadway Baptist Church, 1574 East Shelby Drive. Nine of Irwin's scouts will reach scouting's highest level - Eagle Scout. The public is invited to the ceremony. Bill Cox, a member Of the troop's sponsoring church and chairmanof the troop committee, said Irwin has helped build the entire Chickasaw Council, not just his troop, which regularly rates as one of the top 16in the nation. .{. "I don't even know what to say about the man," Cox said. "He's done more for. scouting than anybody in the country. He's known everywhere he goes." Weekly hikes, the regular twoweek summer camps and various other trips around the . country are still part of Irwin's routine. The troop has' served cornbread from fresh-ground meal and white beans to the likes of Loretta Lynn from their booth at the Mid-South Fair. Irwin sees it all as a blessing of good fortune. "I love scouting and I love working with boys," said Irwin, who has two grown daughters (former Girl Scouts), five grand- A ceremony Sunday will mark the 50th year in scouting for Robert L. 'Buddy' Irwin, 77. With him are two members of his troop, Ben Carter, left, and Sam McDonald, both 12. Irwin has produced hundreds of Eagle Scouts over the years. daughters and a grandson who Drive. is, naturally, a Boy Scout. ~'Ifeel Through it all, Irwin continthe Lord led me into scouting. ues to attract scouts from GerIt's D+Y testimony." mantown, Cordova and North Irwin organized Troop 97 in Memphis. February of 1939at Galilee BapOver the years, lots of names accomplishments were tist Church on Gaither Street and near Mississippi Boulevard. The etched into Irwin's memory. church became Broadway BapFormer Germantown Mayor tist Church and the congrega- Warner 'Rusty' Hodges, several tion and scout troop moved to area business executives, 14 Whitehaven years later. The ministers and 17 lawyers have church now meets in DeSoto camped, climbed mountains and County, but the troop still meets canoed with Irwin. Jimmy Dawat the church facility on Shelby kins, a monitor with the Internal Revenue Service in Memphis who has been blind since birth, is among former. Troop 97 members and is the only blind Eagle Scout in America, Irwin said. More than 200 of his troop members have graduated to Eagle Scouts. In 1950,the entire troop shook hands with President Harry S Truman. About that same time, Troop 97 scout Jimmy Clayton gave the opening prayer to a sesPlease see SCOUTS, Page E3 �, , 2'2 From Page E1 Scouts wide scout jamboree in Calgary, mouth and eyes. The burning Canada, in 1985.His troop always didn't stop for two weeks. attends the national jamboree, Irwin said scouting has someas it will this summer in Freder- thing to offer every boy. sion of the U.S. House of Repre- icksburg, Va. sentatives. Troop 97 scouts and Irwin, I' Irwin and nine of his scouts have climbed mountains, survived white-water river trips, • were the first nongovernment spelunkers to explore Blan- explored Mayan ruins in Mexi-" " chard Springs Caverns in north- co, slept on the lawn outside the Washington Monument and ~ ern Arkansas, since the Indian ~ explorer who died in the cave camped in the Arizona desert. Scouting has changed little " centuries before. f Irwin and his troop loaded over the past 50 years, Irwin : their 40-passenger bus (paid for said. Some programs have been developed especially for innerthrough the boys' fund-raising : efforts) and went to the world- city kids, but the basic tenets ~ citizenship :~------------------------~ character-building, and physical fitness - are the same. And Irwin says that the kids are pretty much the same, too. "Boys haven't changed. They're still looking forward to' the same experiences. Boys still have that yearning for the outdoors, to find out things like the different kinds of birds and trees. The name of the game is 'a boy learns by doing.' "I have no trouble getting boys (in the troop)." Through the years, Irwin has been the object of pranks. Irwin has been tied to a tree and thrown into a lake. He still laughs about the time he slept peacefully while some scouts spread mustard around his I I "It's a chance to let a boy be a boy in his boyhood, to get away from the algebra and the English for a while." � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Chickasaw Council Publications and Papers Description An account of the resource Contains miscellaneous publications and papers by and about the Chickasaw Council. Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document rScoutmast~--- for half-cent . By Steve Gaither Staff Reporter Robert L. 'Buddy' Irwin has been a scoutmaster with the same troop for 50 years. It's been a great way for a 77- year-old man to retain some boyish youth. "My name is Robert L., but they all call me Buddy. That's the way I want it. We become buddies and that's the name of the game." Irwin will be honored for his 50 years of service to Chickasaw Council Troop 97 of the Boy Scouts of America at 2 p.m. Sunday at Broadway Baptist Church, 1574East Shelby Drive. Nine of Irwin's scouts will reach scouting's highest level - Eagle Scout. The public is invited to the ceremony. Bill Cox, a member Of the troop's sponsoring church and chairmanof the troop committee, said Irwin has helped build the entire Chickasaw Council, not just his troop, which regularly rates as one of the top 16in the nation. .{. "I don't even know what to say about the man," Cox said. "He's done more for. scouting than anybody in the country. He's known everywhere he goes." Weekly hikes, the regular twoweek summer camps and various other trips around the . country are still part of Irwin's routine. The troop has' served cornbread from fresh-ground meal and white beans to the likes of Loretta Lynn from their booth at the Mid-South Fair. Irwin sees it all as a blessing of good fortune. "I love scouting and I love working with boys," said Irwin, who has two grown daughters (former Girl Scouts), five granddy' Irwin cited ith ame troop A ceremony Sunday will mark the 50th year in scouting for Robert L. 'Buddy' Irwin, 77. With him are two members of his troop, Ben Carter, left, and Sam McDonald, both 12. Irwin has produced hundreds of Eagle Scouts over the years. daughters and a grandson who is, naturally, a Boy Scout. ~'Ifeel the Lord led me into scouting. It's D+Y testimony." Irwin organized Troop 97 in February of 1939at Galilee Baptist Church on Gaither Street near Mississippi Boulevard. The church became Broadway Baptist Church and the congregation and scout troop moved to Whitehaven years later. The church now meets in DeSoto County, but the troop still meets at the church facility on Shelby Revenue Service in Memphis who has been blind since birth, is among former. Troop 97 members and is the only blind Eagle Scout in America, Irwin said. More than 200 of his troop members have graduated to Eagle Scouts. In 1950,the entire troop shook hands with President Harry S Truman. About that same time, Troop 97 scout Jimmy Clayton gave the opening prayer to a ses- Please see SCOUTS, Page E3 Drive. Through it all, Irwin continues to attract scouts from Germantown, Cordova and North Memphis. Over the years, lots of names and accomplishments were etched into Irwin's memory. Former Germantown Mayor Warner 'Rusty' Hodges, several area business executives, 14 ministers and 17 lawyers have camped, climbed mountains and canoed with Irwin. Jimmy Dawkins, a monitor with the Internal Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1989 Title A name given to the resource 1989 (2/23/1989) Commercial Appeal: Scoutmaster 'Buddy' Irwin Cited for Half-Century with Same Troop Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Commercial Appeal Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Barry Moore Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Barry Moore Ole 97 Periodical Scoutmaster