Eagle Scout honored today

Randy McCain said his son's work toward earning the rank of Eagle Scout started simply in first grade.

His son, J.J., came home, handed his father a flier for the Cub Scouts and told him he wanted to join.

"And that was that, and we've been involved ever since," Randy said.

J.J., now an 18-year-old Carson High School senior, will be honored for earning the Eagle Scout rank, the highest rank in Boy Scouts, at 10:30 a.m. today at the Governor's Mansion.

J.J. said he was a "big guy" in first grade who needed to find the right place to use his energy.

"I was afraid of hurting people playing sports, so the Boy Scouts was just natural for me," he said.

He said he loves the friends, inside jokes and trips he's made since he joined.

Even a 10-day 100-mile hiking trip in New Mexico with other Boy Scouts was fun despite the "hurting," he said.

"It was forever long," he said.

J.J. has earned twice the number of badges needed to become an Eagle Scout, Randy said. That is even more impressive because only 2 percent of boys who join Boy Scouts become Eagle Scouts, he said.

For his Eagle Scout project, J.J. made the first regulation bocce ball courts in Carson City at Mills Park.

J.J. said he will continue to work with the Scouts as a junior scoutmaster. He said he is a "natural-born leader," but Boy Scouts helped him fully develop.

Randy described the Eagle Scout ceremony as a "graduation party" honoring J.J.'s hard work.

J.J. said the work was fun, but other scouts and scoutmasters played a big part by pushing him to finish.

"I had to do it or I was going to upset a lot of people," he said.

- Contact reporter Dave Frank at dfrank@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.