Dick Eatman (left), USF head football coach, Skip Holtz (center) and Mike Eatman (right) were all part of the award ceremony to honor Dick Eatman as the 2012 Distinguished Citizen Soaring Eagle recipient.
It has been said that a Boy Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, kind and courteous. These are all the qualities that make up a Boy Scout, but they are also all the qualities you will find in Brandon resident, Dick Eatman. He and his wife, Ann, have lived in the Brandon community for more than 40 years. He is a fifth generation Floridian, whose great-great grandparents were among the first to settle near Fisheating Creek, near Arcadia, in the early 1800’s.
Eatman has a long history of serving the Brandon community in various leadership positions as well as the former District Chair with the Gulf Ridge Council Boy Scouts of America. At its 2012 gala, the Gulf Ridge Council Boy Scouts of America awarded Eatman the 2012 Distinguished Citizen Soaring Eagle Award.
“It’s just a great honor to receive such a fine award like this,” Eatman said. “I am humbled to follow in the footsteps of the other individuals who have received this award in the past.” Eatman also said that he is proud to be a part of the scouting program and everyone involved with the award ceremony are the backbone of scouting community. The award ceremony was held at The Regent in Brandon and the guest speaker of the evening was the University of South Florida’s head football coach, Skip Holtz.
“It’s an honor to be a part of this event because I was a Boy Scout when I was young,” Holtz said. “The values and lessons you learned from scouting are the qualities that are going to take a lot of young people forward in life.”
For more than a 100 years, the Boy Scouts has given many youth the opportunity to develop strong values and create foundations for futures leadership roles. It goes far beyond learning how to tie knots or earn badges, it teaches men and women how to help others. There are more than 2,500 young people involved with scouting in Brandon and the surrounding communities.
For more information on the Boys Scouts of America, visit www.boyscouting.com.
