Troop History

Founded in 1969, Troop 777 has enriched the lives of countless youth in Diamond Bar and the surrounding communities.

Mr. Herb Hurst was the founding Scoutmaster - he had previously founded Cub Scout Pack 777 and served as its Cubmaster. Mr. Hurst served until 1973.

When starting Troop 777, Mr. Hurst petitioned the National Council for approval to use the unit number "777". This number was sought due to the Biblical significance of '7' being a "perfect" number. The original troop neckerchief was dark green with a purple triangle containing three number sevens. The Troop's tradition of attending Junior Leader Training (today known as Introduction to Leadership Skills for Troop - ILST) and Buckskin Conference (today known as National Youth Leadership Training - NYLT) has existed from the beginning and continues to the present day. Back then, Buckskin was held at Circle B Scout Ranch, just east of the Sequoia National Forest. With the closing of Circle B in 1974, Buckskin moved to Holcomb Valley Scout Ranch in the Big Bear area. Completion of Buckskin allowed Scout graduates to be known as "Buckskin Men". Mr. Piatt, our Committee Chair, is a "Buckskin Man" because he attended when he was a Scout in another troop in the early 70's.

Subsequent to his tenure as Scoutmaster, Mr. Hurst was the District Chair of the then Palomares District of the Old Baldy Council. He also served on Wood Badge Staff for W4-43-89.

Initially the Troop was meeting in the original ranch house of the Diamond Bar Ranch, near the present-day intersection of Diamond Bar Blvd and Brea Canyon Road.

Mr. Hurst successfully passed the Scoutmaster position to Mr. Bill Norris, an Eagle Scout himself. Although Mr. Norris served as Scoutmaster for only a year, he continued in the troop for many years after, including also serving as the Troop Committee Chairman. His guiding hand is fondly remembered by many.

In 1973, Mr. Bill Bryan succeeded to the Scoutmaster role and continued in that capacity for 10 years. Mr. Bryan was a teacher at Evergreen Elementary School. During this time, Troop 777 was meeting at Evergreen Elementary. Mr. Bryan was also active with the Wood Badge training staff and served on the same course as Mr. Hurst.

Throughout the 1970's, the Troop was charted by the Diamond Bar Merchant's Association. In the 1980's, the Troop's meeting location transitioned to the EFree Church, the new sponsor. Interestingly, the campus of the EFree Church is near the site of the original ranch house of the Diamond Bar Ranch, which is where the troop started.

As told by Eagle Scout Greg Case (Eagle #5), a very memorable activity during this time was that the Troop climbed Mt. Whitney! However, to Greg's dismay, his brother sat on Greg's campaign hat.

From 1983 to 1988, Mr. Dave Darrow served as the Scoutmaster. His two sons achieved the Eagle rank during his tenure.

By the late 1980s, Mr. Craig Murray, an Eagle Scout himself, had become the Scoutmaster and instituted many of the policies and traditions that we enjoy today. Before and after Mr. Murray as Scoutmaster was Mr. Vince Szeto and Mr. Joe Radford, respectively. Prior to Mr. Murray becoming Scoutmaster, there were a few months when the troop did not have a Scoutmaster and when Mr. Murray was asked by Old Baldy Council to become the Scoutmaster, there were only five registered scouts in Troop 777.

Because Mr. Murray's passion was hiking, especially long-term backpacks, the Troop went on numerous hikes. And two of the high points were a week-long hike culminating over Mt. Whitney and a 4-day backpack hike called the San Bernardino's 9-Peaks Challenge.

By the early/mid 1990's, the Troop had arrived at its present location, the Northminster Presbyterian Church. The Troop has performed numerous service projects at Northminster, including Eagle projects. Some of these projects include the concrete benches (now placed in the rose garden), lighting in the back playground, installation of a sprinkler system in the front (later expanded to the back), drainage pipes for a storm drain, and a prayer labyrinth. Northminster has been a valuable partner for Troop 777.

Mr. Tom Smith succeeded as the Scoutmaster. Mr. Smith, also an Eagle Scout, set a high standard for the position of Scoutmaster as evidenced by his dedication to the Scouts, especially at Tahquitz summer camp in 2002 when he was constantly besieged with new Scouts and their various advancement-related questions. By this time, the Troop was growing at a very rapid pace as it had nearly tripled in size from the previous five years. In fact, by 2004, it briefly showed almost 120 registered Scouts. Memorable activities during Mr. Smith's tenure included a hike to the Grand Canyon and a canoe trip on the Colorado River. Regrettably, due to his work commitments, Mr. Smith stepped down as Scoutmaster in 2004.

When Mr. Martin Cardenas' oldest son was a Webelos Scout in Pack 730, the den decided to break with tradition and not bridge to their linked Troop and instead bridged to Troop 777. Less than a year after joining, Mr. Cardenas became the Scoutmaster in April of 2004. Although his youngest son Eagled-out (and aged-out) in 2013, Mr. Cardenas has elected to stay on as Scoutmaster.

During Mr. Cardenas' tenure, noteworthy activities included a canoe trip on the Colorado River and a backpacking trip to the Grand Canyon, through the Havasupai Indian Reservation. In 2013, a crew of 4 Scouts and 3 Adults went on a 12-day trek at Philmont Scout Ranch in the mountains of northern New Mexico. What an amazing journey!

In 2006, with the dissolving of the Old Baldy Council, Troop 777 moved to the neighboring San Gabriel Valley Council (SGVC). During this time, our Troop Eagle Scouts began participating in the annual Tournament of Roses Parade to carry banners announcing floats that won prizes. For the 2010 Rose Parade, in commemoration of BSA's 100th anniversary, Boy Scouts entered a float in the parade - 8 Scouts from our Troop participated. Also, in 2012, Troop 777 hosted the district dinner at the Diamond Bar Center. Of course, we're very biased, but that was the best district event ever!

There were some "lean years" where membership dipped to 35 Scouts. This moved the Troop to approve restarting Pack 777 in October 2017. Since then, membership has stabilized at a very healthy 60 to 80 Scouts.

The Troop's tenure in SGVC was short-lived as the council was merged with the Los Angeles Area Council in 2015 to create the Greater Los Angeles Council (GLAAC).

In February 2019, BSA announced a change in membership policy to officially allow girls to join. "Boy Scouts" became "Scouts BSA" to reflect this change.

By 2020, Our troop had approved the start of Troop 777G ('G' for girls), and was officially started in January 2021.

Summer camp has always been a special week of every year. We have attended various camps including Holcomb Valley Scout Ranch, Camp Chawanakee, Emerald Bay on Catalina Island (we attended Cherry Valley for the first time in 2021), Camp Whitsett, Mataguay Scout Ranch, Camp Fiesta Island, Camp Three Falls, and Tahquitz. One year, we went as far north as Camp Pico Blanco in Monterrey County.

A constant during the life of our Troop has been the quality of leadership, both for Adults and Scouts. To date, five of our Scoutmasters have been recognized with the Silver Beaver Award for their great contributions to the Scouting youth of the Council.

In addition, our leaders have continually striven to better themselves by attending advanced leadership training: Wood Badge Training course for Adults and NYLT for Scouts, today's equivalent of Buckskin. Currently there are 13 adult leaders that have completed Wood Badge training, 3 others nearing completion, and 1 other that is taking the current training session. Seventeen of our current Scouts have completed NYLT, today's equivalent of Buckskin. In completing these advanced training courses, all are qualified to wear the coveted campaign hat.