Operation Usher

Operation Usher

In days of old, Boy Scouts ushering fans to their seats were a common sight at Auburn football games. What happened?

Boy Scouts posing around Troup 45 banner

According to the Boy Scout Law, scouts are trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. About a century ago, they were also ushers at football games.

In an era when most listened to games on the radio, those lucky enough to attend in person dressed up for the occasion. Former Auburn Alumni Association board director Bob Jones ’74, who witnessed Auburn football legends like Jimmy Seidel and Tucker Frederickson in exchange for ushering, compares it to going to the theater.

“I was in Troop 25 in the early ’60s when I did it,” recalls Jones. “Boys from the various troops came, [the fans] gave us their tickets, and we ushered them to their seats. And then after the game started, we got to go sit in the end zone and watch.”

At the time, Auburn’s stadium was open at both ends and the scouts would sit in wooden bleachers at the field’s edge. However unglamorous their seats, the scouts didn’t mind.

“That was our ‘pay’ for the deal, but it was a big deal,” said Jones. “I would not have gotten to attend games if not for that.”

Public services like ushering have been a powerful marketing tool since the beginning of scouting. At Woodrow Wilson’s 1913 presidential inauguration, three years after the founding of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), a deputation of scouts provided emergency assistance to the heat-stricken crowd, establishing a tradition of scouts at inaugurations ever since. As college football spread in popularity, “Operation Usher,” as it was called, became national practice. A high-water mark was the 1922 Michigan-Ohio State football game, where an estimated 1,200 scouts ushered spectators to their seats.

Despite no definitive history of Operation Usher, a 1922 article in the Montgomery Advertiser states scouts ushered the Auburn-Tulane game held at Montgomery’s Cramton Bowl that year. Later, they ushered Auburn-Georgia games in Columbus in the 1930s.

“Scouts are known for their service to the community, and this gave a lot of boys an opportunity to see a college football game and visit a college campus that may not have been able to do so otherwise.”
3 boy scouts in uniform
Boy Scouts, Opelika troop
two boy scouts hold certificates

But as a starting point, the Opelika Daily News states that in 1947, Montgomery Scout Council Commissioner B.C. Goode proposed scout ushers for the annual “Blue-Gray” game in Montgomery.

Operation Usher was so successful, the Auburn Athletic Association invited the BSA to usher all home games beginning in 1949.

“The scouts lined the stadium steps and helped people to their seats,” said former athletic director and Auburn historian David Housel ’69. “They never did a whole lot. I’m sure they helped old men and old ladies find their seats, but they were there mainly as a show of courtesy and support. They were doing good deeds.”

In 1970, when Auburn’s stadium added the north end zone section and went from 44,000 seats to 64,000, the demand for scouts exceeded the area’s BSA troop population. A similar predicament befell the Auburn Lions Club, a civic group that handled ticketing in exchange for entry to the game. Despite busing in people to augment their numbers, the Lions Club couldn’t keep up.

“I have never been cussed out as bad as I have by a Lion when we told him we’d have to move in another direction,” said Housel. “But it all worked out.”

While the BSA was no longer the exclusive ushers for Auburn, there’s plenty of evidence that they stuck around.

boy scout patch
1995 boy scout patch
1996 boy scout patch
1997 boy scout patch
1998 boy scout patch

Greg Sweatmon ’93, a manager at Pilgrim’s poultry company and an avid collector of Boy Scout memorabilia, has spent years tracking down the unique patches schools gave to scout ushers. Over the years, Sweatmon’s amassed hundreds of artifacts from dozens of schools around the country, some dating back to the beginning of scouting. And he can confirm Operation Usher continued well into the 2000s.

“It was a big thing,” said Sweatmon of Operation Usher. “I’ve been a patch collector for a long time, and I’m a huge college football fan, so I just started collecting this stuff and it just built and built. I have the biggest collection of this stuff in the country. I guess now I’m considered the expert on it.”

After 9/11, most schools phased in a “Scout Day,” where scouts in uniform received free entry. Today only three schools—Ohio State, Nebraska and Oklahoma—still use scouts as ushers.

But the spirit of scouting hasn’t left the Plains. Since the early 1990s Alpha Phi Omega fraternity has hosted “Merit Badge University,” recruiting university faculty and staff to teach merit badges to hundreds of scouts from Alabama
and Georgia.

“Everybody, when they think of scouting, thinks about camping, canoeing and all that, but it’s really a leadership program,” said Sweatmon. “Scouts are known for their service to the community, and this gave a lot of boys an opportunity to see a college football game and visit a college campus that may not have been able to do so otherwise.”

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[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_text_separator title=”More than a decade later, Ryan and Andrew Bynum finally understand what those ‘numbers’ mean “][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/2″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]My name is Chris Cooper Bynum. I graduated from Auburn in 1987. My oldest son graduates this Sunday! He recently reminded me of a story I wanted to share with you.

We lived in Texas for a while when our boys were younger. (We are now back in Alabama) so it was a rare and special occasion to visit campus as they were growing up. I brought them to The Plains as often as I could.

Years ago when the opportunity to buy bricks at the football players’ entrance to Jordan Hare Stadium became available, my mother bought a brick for everyone in our family. The next time I was able to bring my sons, Ryan and Andrew (both now current students at Auburn), to see the bricks, they were 9 and 6&1/2 years old. That was the summer of 2003.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/2″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][image_with_animation image_url=”15883″ alignment=”center” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/2″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][image_with_animation image_url=”15896″ alignment=”” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][/vc_column][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/2″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]Upon seeing the bricks, my oldest son, Ryan, asked why every other family member had “numbers” on their brick but he and Andrew did not. I laughed and explained that those were our graduation years… Edwina Kilpatrick Cooper 1962, Leon Curtis Cooper 1967, Chris Cooper Bynum 1987 and Mark Camp Cooper 1995. Ryan & Andrew were so disappointed about the “numbers”!

So, I told them that if they graduated from Auburn (their dad is an Alabama alum), I would get down on my hands & knees with a hammer & chisel and put their graduation year on their bricks myself! Haha!

Well… Hallelujah and War Eagle! Ryan will graduate this Sunday with a 4.0GPA in Biomedical Science and start med school at UAB this summer! He reminded me last week about my “hammer & chisel” declaration. But don’t worry, I will not be climbing the fence to deface the bricks![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Rebecca Murray ’14

Rebecca Murray ’14

[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”2/3″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][image_with_animation image_url=”15806″ alignment=”center” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][/vc_column][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/3″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]If I listed everything I love about Auburn, it would take weeks. I am forever grateful to Auburn for introducing me to one of my greatest loves – the love of dance.

I attended a meeting of the Auburn University Swing Dance Association my first week of college, and I fell head-over-heels instantly. I felt like I finally found a place where my love of music and history was married perfectly, and where there were smart and inclusive people who shared that love. Within a year, I was teaching swing dance to other students because I couldn’t wait to spread the happiness I had found.

Six years and several competition placements later, I still point back to Auburn as what set me on the path to do what I am passionate about.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Rosalyn Elaine Hill Beech ’83

Rosalyn Elaine Hill Beech ’83

[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][image_with_animation image_url=”15646″ alignment=”center” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]As a young girl from Millry, AL, I began Auburn in 1978 hoping to become a chemical engineer. After two years, I changed my major to Pharmacy and never looked back.

The pharmacy profession lead my to the love of my life, Wayne, who was also a pharmacist. We married in 1983 and began our life. Our union produced two more Auburn graduates, Leslie ’11 and Daniel ’15. My husband passed away in 2002. After this life changing event, I became a stay-at-home mom until Leslie could drive.

I then entered a political world. I was elected to the local school board in 2006 and in 2009 I was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives where I remain today. I serve on the Healthcare committee, the General Fund committee and the Rules committee. I am a member on the Governor’s Health improvement Task Force, the Opioid Abuse and Addiction Task Force, the Energy Council and the Unmanned Vehicle study Commission.

I am a life member of the Auburn Alumni Association, a member of the Pharmacy Alumni Association, the 1856 Society, and Tigers Unlimited. I have served as president of the Clarke-Washington Alumni Association. I am involved in the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association, the National Wild Turkey Federation and the NRA. I am a member of the Chatom Baptist Church.

Above all, I love Auburn and following Auburn sports.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Lauren Kimbro ’09

Lauren Kimbro ’09

[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][image_with_animation image_url=”15642″ alignment=”center” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]I am proud to be an Auburn woman!

I learned the auburn fight song when I was 3 and it was the only school I wanted to go to! Auburn University helped me reach my dreams of being an animal trainer at a zoo. I have worked with all sorts of animals and most recently cheetahs.

No matter where my career takes me, I always carry with me my love of Auburn.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]