By Tony Sheaffer
The Silver Buffalo Award was created in 1925 to recognize those who have given noteworthy and extraordinary service to youth. The Silver Buffalo is Scouting's highest commendation of the great contributions that Americans have given to youth at a national level - either independent of, or directly through, the Boy Scouts of America.
Since the first awards were presented in 1926, only 732 Silver Buffalos have been presented. One of the most recent to receive this award is National OA Committeeman Jack Butler.
Butler was born on April 17, 1945. He became involved in Scouting as a member of a Cub Scout pack in the early 1950s in Illinois where his mother was a den mother. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Butler was a member of Troop 134 out of Pompano Beach, Fla. Butler earned the rank of Eagle along with three others in his troop on October 9, 1960, something he remembers fondly.
"I remember Kennedy, because that's who was president at the time; he was in West Palm Beach," Butler said. "Getting Eagle was still considered very prestigious at the time. In fact I still have it...I have a telegram that Kennedy sent down to us since we were only an hour or so south in Pompano Beach."
Butler remained in the program even after attaining the rank of Eagle. When he became an adult in 1963, his Scoutmaster, Mr. Tucker, made him an Assistant Scoutmaster. He remained an ASM for a few years until he went to Vietnam for a year. Upon his return to the U.S., he continued with Scouting.
Butler's Scouting career has involved an assortment of responsibilities from the unit to the national level. He has been a Cubmaster twice, a Scoutmaster three times, an Order of the Arrow lodge adviser for eight years, and a section adviser for 12 years. Butler began his work on the national OA committee in late 1991 in communications. He then went on to marketing and then back to communications as a vice-chairman. Butler has never forgotten his youth experience in the Order of the Arrow, despite his decades of adult leadership.
"If I were to say anyone helped me get to where I am today, I would say that it was my lodge adviser, Mr. Harold Hollis," Butler said. "When I was a youth in the OA, he always empowered me to do more. He always empowered the youth, which was kind of unusual at the time. I modeled what I did from Hollis. I remember getting off the phone one day with some youth, and my wife was telling me that I expected too much from those boys. I said, 'I only expected what Mr. Hollis expected.' And that really makes a difference in my opinion."
Butler is now retired. He resides in the Georgia mountains with his wife, but he is still very involved in Scouting. When asked about his future plans, Butler responded, "I don't know what I'll be doing in the future. I'm helping with the 2014 program at the Summit for high adventure. Oh, and I'll be doing some things with NOAC 2015. Our goal is to have 10,000 participants at NOAC, so that is my next big thing."