You may have noticed the Hoosier Trails Council NYLT neckerchiefs seem larger than usual. The truth is they actually are larger than most neckerchiefs found in the US and there is a reason for that which has gone down as a classic tale of accidental happenstance in the lore of our NYLT course.
2013 was the last of three with Steve Cole as the Course Director/Scoutmaster and was the only year utilizing the generic vocabulary for youth leadership positions instead of the more common Senior Patrol Leader, ASPL, etc. Instead of being the Senior Patrol Leader, Daniel Kotnik was referred to as the Assistant Course Director of Youth Operations or ACDOYO of Unit 131. Daniel left a significant mark on Hoosier Trails NYLT as the founder of the “Daniel Kotnik Card Game”, which has spread from the NYLT staff to troops across Hoosier Trails Council and is the subject of yet another story of NYLT traditions. Other titles for leadership roles were equally confusing.
Albert Cross was the newly designated Quartermaster and his discussions with Steve Cole centered on ensuring the course would have the adequate supplies for the course. One of those discussions began in January when Steve said, “You know, I really think we need to get a bigger neckerchief for course.”
Albert knew absolutely nothing about neckerchief sizes, let alone the fact there might be more than one, so he went to the Internet as the irrefutable source of knowledge for all things unknown. He did notice that the images seen there, especially those of foreign Scouts with neckerchiefs, seemed to show a much larger neckerchief than that used by NYLT in 2012. He also learned about such terms as “neckers”, “woggles”, and the friendship knot used on neckerchiefs without using a slide.
As an improvement to the course, Albert suggested to the senior youth staff that Hoosier Trails Council NYLT adopt a blue neckerchief with silver piping for the staff and use the traditional red neckerchief with black piping for the participants. This design included a 3” square full color NYLT patch embroidered on the neckerchief with the course or troop number embroidered below the patch on the staff neckerchiefs. The words “Hoosier Trails Council” were to be embroidered arcing over the patch.
These suggestions were enthusiastically received and adopted by the senior youth staff consisting of Daniel Kotnik, Connor Boyle, and Albert (Will) Cross.
Other changes in 2013 that reflected the change in neckerchief is that while participants continued being given a red “Class B” shirt at the end of course, staff transitioned to a royal blue “Class B” shirt which was personalized with their names on them. The full color NYLT patch design was added to all of the shirts as well and the results were stunning. Staff members were also provided with two of these shirts so they would have a clean shirt to wear every day as long as they did some laundry during course.
To go along with this, staff adopted a predominately blue baseball cap with some red and a little bit of white trim for the “Class B” staff cap. Youth Quartermaster Jeremy Meadows suggested the caps be personalized with the staff member’s name embroidered on the back of the cap and this was also approved.
The idea for staff to wear blue t-shirts and participants red with the full-color patch design stemmed from Assistant Course Director for Youth Operations – Service (ACDYOS) Albert (Will) Cross’s attendance at NAYLE at Philmont Scout Ranch in July 2012. Such was the practice there and it made it a lot easier to identify staff and participants at a distance.
Albert measured the neckerchief from the 2012 course to be approximately 36” across the diagonal and exchanged a series of emails and telephone conversations with Steve about what the dimensions of the larger neckerchief should be. Steve said it should really be about the same size as his Wood Badge neckerchief and would provide the dimensions in an email as soon as he got home to measure it.
Albert received an email from Steve which indicated that Steve’s neckerchief was 56” across on the diagonal. Albert really didn’t think anything unusual about the dimension and called Iva Garippa at Moritz Embroidery to get a quote for neckerchiefs. She commented to him that, “Wow, that’s a really nice, big neckerchief!” Even that remark did not set off any alarms in Albert’s mind!
The neckerchiefs finally arrived just before the Participant Orientation Day and Albert and Will eagerly opened the box that had been delivered to their door. Shock and awe were the reactions even before pulling one out of the plastic wrap. The neckerchiefs were simply beautiful. They removed one from the plastic wrap and began to unfold and unfold and unfold and unfold.
It seemed enormous, large enough to be a sail on a small boat! They looked at each other and words like “look at the size of this”, “nice neckerchiefs”, and “wow” floated around the room.
Finally, Albert said, “I have to call Steve and tell them they are here. He is not going to believe how nice they are.”
When Albert called Steve, he indicated he wasn’t doing anything that evening so Albert said, “We are bringing these up to show you because a telephone conversation doesn’t do them justice!” When Albert and Will pulled into Steve’s driveway in Bloomington he was standing outside.
When they pulled the blue staff neckerchief out of the car and held it up for display, Steve exclaimed, “Those are really nice! And big! That looks bigger than my Wood Badge neckerchief!”
Albert defensively replied, “Well, you did say 56 inches.”
“I did? Well, I guess I did! Let me go get my Wood Badge neckerchief and compare them.”
Albert and Will followed Steve into his house where he retrieved his Wood Badge neckerchief from a back room. Much to Albert’s dismay the Wood Badge neckerchief was substantially smaller than the NYLT neckerchief.
By this time Albert was totally confused and could only sputter, “I know these are 56”! We measured them at home. That’s what you told me to get! How big is that Wood Badge neckerchief, anyway?”
The mystery deepened as a tape measure retrieved from the car revealed the Wood Badge neckerchief measured only 46” across the diagonal.
Steve then exclaimed, “Oh! You know, I wonder if I used that sewing tape measure my wife has that is missing the first 10 inches to measure with?”
Albert quizzically replied, “Do what?!”
Steve sheepishly departed to a back room and returned with a seemingly normal sewing tape measure. Normal, except that it started at 10 and was missing the first portion. You guessed it; when it was laid out on the Wood Badge neckerchief it measured “56” inches! Bingo!
At this point the group of three started laughing with great hilarity and agreeing that no, the vendor did not mess up, the quartermaster did not err, and, despite the larger size, they would be great for course. It’s not everyday you come across such a versatile sized neckerchief with a million and one uses. It is even large enough to use as an arm sling for adults when doing first aid training!
And now you know the rest of the story.