Talk:List of Eagle Scouts

This page's name is confusing
This page's name is vague. Upon seeing it, my first thought was "Is this going to list every Eagle Scout ever?" Suggest renaming to "List of Well-Known Eagle Scouts" — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.107.74.186 (talk) 16:55, 25 August 2015 (UTC)

Charles Duke - Eagle date
I checked the ref, it does say he made Eagle in 1946, specifically Sep 26. Not likely. He would have been just shy of 11 years old. My money is on the ref having a typo in the year. A year around 1949-1950 is more likely. Pumpkin Sky  talk  22:40, 22 May 2017 (UTC)
 * And in 1946 the joining age for Boy Scouts was 12 (it dropped to 11 in 1949). Duke was presented DESA in 1975 which requires 25 years of service, so the latest would have been 1950. --Eagleinflight (talk) 23:47, 23 May 2017 (UTC)

John Hersey
The article on John Hersey says he was the first Eagle Scout for his troop in Briarcliff Manor, New York. The article for Briarcliff Manor also makes the same claim and says he was with Troop 1, but neither article cites sources that verify the claims.

Troop 18 in Briarcliff claims he was their first Eagle Scout, but that is not a reliable source.

Mysticstamps.com has a bio on John Hersey that repeats the claim that he was the first Eagle Scout for his troop, but the John Hersey bio provided by the US Postal Service on the occasion of their issuing a stamp in his honor in 2008, makes no mention of him being a Scout, much less and Eagle Scout. So, I am not sure we can trust the Mysticstamps.com bio.

I am looking for help to see if anyone else can dig up a reliable source to verify that he was an Eagle Scout. – Archer1234 (talk) 02:09, 28 August 2019 (UTC)


 * the local council can answer that question. The records are digitized. --evrik (talk) 03:57, 19 August 2020 (UTC)

Incorrectly regarded as an Eagle Scout
The section "Incorrectly regarded as an Eagle Scout" needs reliable sources. The blog post does not demonstrate that the people are not Eagle Scouts AND are incorrectly regarded as Eagle Scouts. The "Letter to Randall Everett" is unverifiable. GoingBatty (talk) 17:15, 6 November 2022 (UTC)


 * The letter is discussed here: Talk:List of Eagle Scouts/Archive 1, and it linked to here:, but that got deleted. I don't have the url to where Randy posted it after that. Suggestions? --evrik (talk) 21:52, 24 June 2023 (UTC)
 * @Evrik: I think that the people in this section would each need published sources claiming that they're Eagle Scouts AND reliable published sources showing that they are NOT Eagle Scouts. GoingBatty (talk) 03:42, 25 June 2023 (UTC)
 * I cleaned up the section. The problem as I see it is that we are revisiting discussions made years ago. The number of men we are talking about is limited. Perhaps as an an example of the butterfly effect, this section may have eliminated some of the confusion over the years. --evrik (talk) 15:55, 25 June 2023 (UTC)

Citations that are almost impossible to verify
There are at least 60 entries that are cited to only one source:. If you click the link it takes you to a general page at nesa.org for "Distinguished Eagle Scout". From that page you can search any name and it takes you to "Distinguished Eagle Scout Recipients". The recipients are then categorized, not by last name, but by geographic areas. You click a letter of the alphabet and see all the regions that begin with that letter. Essentially, to find one person you would have to click as many as 26 pages and scroll through the results, which I estimate to be in the hundreds if not thousands. That makes it almost impossible to verify a specific person. I think over time editors have simply copied that citation for anyone they know to be a Distinguished Eagle Scout without realizing that the citation provides almost no information. I am asking for suggestions on how to improve this problem because, as it is now, a huge portion of the entries are unverifiable. Note that I am not doubting the veracity of any entry, just the verifiability, which is a core requirement for Wikipedia. Sundayclose (talk) 15:59, 18 November 2022 (UTC)
 * I saw the notice at WP:RSN. Personally, I would copy all of the entries from the NESA page into one big text file called eaglescouts, with every scout on their own line. I would then copy all of the eagle scouts from the wiki table that I wish to verify into a separate file. Then use join (Unix) to merge the lists based on first name and see which last names match. Any of them that don't match are unverifiable and can be removed.
 * In the future, I would use Template:Sfn to document in which part of the NESA page web page the entry for each Eagle Scout can be found and make that a requirement for adding entries. Chess (talk) (please use&#32; on reply) 07:14, 20 November 2022 (UTC)
 * Note that WP:V requirements only need that something can be verified, not that it can be verified instantly with next to zero effort. Lots of Wikipedia text is cited to print sources that may only be available in some library somewhere.  This is far more accessible than that is.  The source in question does verify the entries.  It is fine.  Now, if you happen to also have another source that does so in a more direct way, you're allowed to add it.  But the current source is not a problem.  -- Jayron 32 19:09, 21 November 2022 (UTC)
 * This is the current source:
 * I think that the names can be verified by using the search box. --evrik (talk) 21:27, 24 June 2023 (UTC)
 * No, if you enter a name and search, it always goes to or to a list of geographic regions. You can only search by geographic region. Sundayclose (talk) 14:25, 25 June 2023 (UTC)
 * I just did a search for Ray Suarez. The search does work, but then it doesn't take you to the correct page. --evrik (talk) 15:51, 25 June 2023 (UTC)
 * As I just said. You can't search for a person and get to the right page, or even a list of links that might go to the right page. Sundayclose (talk) 16:05, 25 June 2023 (UTC)
 * It's what Jayron said ... the information is there. --evrik (talk) 18:06, 25 June 2023 (UTC)
 * It's what Jayron said ... the information is there. --evrik (talk) 18:06, 25 June 2023 (UTC)

Eagle scouts
You've been around a while so I won't template you. The list article has no requirement about the contents of the person's article. For that reason there are numerous entries that have no such content in the person's article. The only requirement is a reliable source that the person is/was an Eagle Scout. Instead of edit warring and making up your own rules for the article, take this to the talk page and get consensus for that missing requirement. Thank you. Sundayclose (talk) 01:37, 24 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Though I agree with you, I've taken the liberty of adding a mention of Glaiel earning his Eagle Scout to his own page, so everyone wins.  BOTTO ( T • C ) 17:14, 24 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Thanks, and I'm fine with that. But there is nowhere on Wikipedia stating that there is such a requirement. Sundayclose (talk) 17:32, 24 June 2023 (UTC)


 * I'm going to have to research this further. There have been a number of discussion over the years. I've worked on this article for more than ten years. I had thought it was part of this templates Talk:List of Eagle Scouts/Criteria and Editnotices/Page/List of Eagle Scouts --evrik (talk) 20:14, 24 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Does anyone remember? --evrik (talk) 20:29, 24 June 2023 (UTC)
 * @Evrik: I see Talk:List of Eagle Scouts/Criteria and Template:Editnotices/Page/List of Eagle Scouts both say that having an article shows notability is a requirement for inclusion. However, neither of these state that the article must identify the person as an Eagle Scout. GoingBatty (talk) 20:48, 24 June 2023 (UTC)
 * I was an Eagle scout in Troop 6 Andrew Jackson Council St Peter's Catholic church sponsored Jackson, Mississippi. I was one of the youngest 1960. I am Roger Dail Downing. I'm new to this site. How do I post my name? My hero, Neil Armstrong, it's a honor to be on any list with him. Didn't realize until my law suit with the scouts and Catholics church didn't know there was a list. Rogerdowning (talk) 09:18, 21 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Unless you are Notable, you will not be able to be on this list. If you want a list of eagle scouts in general, you're out of luck. If I recall correctly, BSA does not provide lists of eagle scouts. Thanks. LOLHWAT (talk) 16:06, 9 April 2024 (UTC)

Dead link on edit notice
Speaking of Template:Editnotices/Page/List of Eagle Scouts, the last line states The link is dead and could be replaced with https://nesa.org/awards-and-recognition/distinguished-eagle-scout-award/distinguished-eagle-scout-recipients/ Is there different guidance to be given instead of using the deleted ? Thought we should agree on the wording before asking an admin to update the template. Thanks! GoingBatty (talk) 21:13, 24 June 2023 (UTC)
 * If the person is on the Master DESA List, then reference the entry with in addition to other references
 * I noticed that as well. I think that the DESA template was deprecated when we went to mem/e, let's just say:
 * If the person is on the Master DESA List, then reference the DESA in addition to any other references.
 * --evrik (talk) 21:19, 24 June 2023 (UTC)
 * @Evrik: Thanks! Request made at Template talk:Editnotices/Page/List of Eagle Scouts. GoingBatty (talk) 21:48, 24 June 2023 (UTC)

New to site How do I post my name?
I am Roger Dail Downing troop 6 Andrew Jackson Council Jackson Mississippi sponsored by the Catholic church 1960. How do I post my name on list? Rogerdowning (talk) 09:21, 21 July 2023 (UTC)


 * You don't. We only want notable people on lists like this. — Trey Maturin™ 10:00, 21 July 2023 (UTC)
 * And by notable, that means you have a Wikipedia article. Sundayclose (talk) 12:54, 21 July 2023 (UTC)