Boy Scouts of America Pack and Troop 58

of San Francisco, California

Revised:  02/17/2006

Troop 58 History:

Troop and Pack 68, the predecessor to Troop and Pack 58, began on October 12, 1939 under the sponsorship of the Konko Church of San Francisco.  The Konko Church minister, Reverend Yoshiaki Fukuda was of the belief that scouting would enable his church members and neighborhood children to become better assimilated into American society.  Scouting was interrupted by World War II when Japanese Americans were sent off to interment camps in 1942.

Pack and Troop 58 was reinstituted on November 11, 1948 after the Japanese community returned to San Francisco.  There was much uncertainty in those days for the Japanese American community.  The scouting program provided the setting for boys and their families to re-establish some semblance of stability, personal development, and close ties as part of the all-out effort in the reconstruction of lives, culture, and community.

The two high points in its history was first, when Explorer Post 58 was the first Japanese American Scout Organization to make a visit to Japan after World War II.  This was in 1961 when thirty one scouts and seven leaders went via military troopship.  Second was when its basketball team, the SF Associates, in the state Nisei Athletic Union AA championship game of 1961 won in an upset thriller over the Los Angeles San Kwo Low Lords by the score of 74 to 72 before a crowd of 1000 fans at Kezar Pavilion.  That was the first win over the south in AA North-South NAU championships after 7 years of southern dominance.

By the 1990's Pack and Troop 58 has become fully integrated with the Japanese community becoming assimilated into American society and its scouts coming from all ethnic groups and communities.

 -- Nob Fukuda

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