The Little-known Story of How This Basketball Star Became an Eagle Scout

When Villanova Wildcat Josh Hart steps on the court this March for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, he’ll be doing so as a young man who has already achieved something great.

No, we’re not talking about how Josh and his team became national champions when they won the tournament during Josh’s junior year in 2016. We’re also not talking about how he and his team just became Big East Conference regular season champions for the fourth straight year.

Those are definitely commendable achievements, but what many people don’t know is that, in addition to being a bonafide college basketball star, Josh Hart is an Eagle Scout.

His journey to earn Eagle, all while spending a great deal of time participating in high school basketball, wasn’t an easy one.

The young man’s achievement even prompted ESPN to produce a video news segment dedicated to how Josh earned his Eagle Scout.

The 3-minute video features interviews with Josh, his father, and his former Scoutmaster talking about the promise Josh made to his father as a boy and what he had to do to balance Scouting and basketball.

“You don’t quit. You finish what you start,” said Moses Hart, Josh’s father.

Because of Josh’s commitment to basketball and Scouting, that meant the young man had to rely on some key Scouting skills of leadership and planning to finish all of the requirements for Eagle prior to his 18th birthday.

In a blog post on the Bryan on Scouting blog last year, Josh commented on how he made it work.

“It’s all about leading, leading and hard work,” he said. “You don’t get Eagle Scout by just showing up. 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.”

Be sure to watch the great news story from ESPN below (and for those familiar with the Build an Adventure campaign, be on the lookout for a few familiar video clips).

If you know a college basketball fan, and especially if you know a Scout looking to balance Scouting with sports, be sure to share Josh’s inspiring story with them.