Josh Hart, Eagle Scout, wins NCAA championship with Villanova

One shining moment? For Villanova’s Josh Hart, make that two.

Before he earned the highest prize in college basketball, Hart earned Scouting’s highest honor.

Yes, Hart, whose Wildcats captured the 2016 NCAA Championship in dramatic fashion last night, is an Eagle Scout. He was a member of Rockville, Md.-based Troop 1083 of the National Capital Area Council.

Succeeding on the court has a lot in common with becoming an Eagle, Hart told Philadelphia Scouter Ed Lynes in an interview conducted earlier this year.

“It’s all about leading — leading and hard work. You don’t get Eagle Scout by just showing up,” Hart said. “You gotta put a lot of work in. Gotta sacrifice a lot of time. Put in a lot of weekends. Doing that taught me how to get serious, put my head down, and go to work.”

And so he did. With a little push from his dad along the way, Hart finished his Eagle Scout requirements a week before his 18th birthday.

“I really had to make those strict deadlines to keep my promise, but it’s a big part of the reason I am the man I am today,” Hart told Lynes. “Those situations and what I learned translated into basketball.”

You could say Hart relishes dramatic finishes. His Villanova team sure pulled off one in last night’s last-second win over North Carolina.

Scouting and sports? Yes, it can be done.

What can we learn from Josh Hart? Quite a lot. For one, we can see that it’s possible to be at the top of your game in both Scouting and sports.

“It’s not gonna be easy,” he told Lynes. “Both sports and Scouts are time consuming. You can’t want it to be easy, because there are times where you need to put your head down and get to work. When I was working on my Eagle, I got a late start. I had to meet deadlines, week after week. So put your head down, and know while it’s not easy, it’s gonna be worth it. Because Scouting is gonna help you in the real world.”

See Josh Hart in action