U.S. Olympian is great-great-grandson of BSA’s first Chief Scout Executive

Updated for 2018


The speedy sport of luge has been in Tucker West’s blood since age 6 when his dad built a track in the backyard for Tucker and his fellow Cub Scouts to race on.

Scouting’s been in Tucker’s blood even longer.

Tucker West is the great-great-grandson of James E. West, the Boy Scouts of America’s first Chief Scout Executive.

That link to one of the BSA’s pioneers gives us a great reason to cheer on the 23-year-old in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Tucker will race four times: two runs on Saturday, Feb. 10, and two on Sunday, Feb. 11. The four times are added up, and the fastest total time determines the winner.

Doug Stone, a friend of the West family who sent me this story idea, also shared this picture of Tucker winning the silver medal at Ridgefield, Conn., Pack 124’s sledding event in Tucker’s backyard in 2004:

Tucker

Tucker’s on the right in the photo above, and he seems to have that medal-winning pose down. Let’s hope we see him strike a similar pose on the podium in South Korea.

Read more about the backyard luge track — and what happened when Connecticut State Amusement inspectors heard about it — in this nice Hartford Courant story from 2014.


Big thanks to Douglas Stone for the tip.


About Bryan Wendell 3282 Articles
Bryan Wendell, an Eagle Scout, is the founder of Bryan on Scouting and a contributing writer.