At 60, San Juan Bautista native Robert
”
Bob
”
Mazzuca has been named chief scout executive of the Boy Scouts
of America. On Saturday, Mazzuca replaced the retiring Roy Williams
as chief scout executive, the organization’s equivalent of a chief
executive officer.
San Juan Bautista – He spent much of his childhood tromping through the farms and hills of the San Juan Valley – hunting, fishing, camping and eventually earning the Eagle Scout rank at age 16.
At 60, San Juan Bautista native Robert “Bob” Mazzuca has been named chief scout executive of the Boy Scouts of America. On Saturday, Mazzuca replaced the retiring Roy Williams as chief scout executive, the organization’s equivalent of a chief executive officer.
When reached at his home Monday in South Lake, Texas, Mazzuca said he looks forward to running the organization as it approaches its centennial anniversary.
“I want to secure the second century, not just celebrate the last one,” Mazzuca said.
He wants to accomplish two major goals before his mandatory retirement in 2012, Mazzuca said.
One of Mazzuca’s highest priorities will be reaching out to the Latino community, he said. With about half of all children in California being Latino, Mazzuca said it’s an important goal.
“We haven’t figured out how to communicate with them culturally why scouting is important,” Mazzuca said.
Mazzuca also would like to help integrate technology into scouting, such as through the Web sites Youtube.com and MySpace.com.
“We haven’t figured that out very well, either,” he said.
Albert Gallegos, a scout executive of the Monterey Bay Area Council, said the BSA’s Latino initiative program is already up and running.
An example of the initiative is the Soccer & Scouting program run through Calaveras School, said Gallegos.
“He’s an excellent choice to lead the scouts right now,” Gallegos said. “Bob has the skill and talent – and knowledge of the scout program and business community.”
The new chief scout executive said he appreciates his childhood in San Juan Bautista, the residents of which he called his “extended family.” Mazzuca looked back fondly on growing up there.
“I never owned a key to the house because it was never locked,” Mazzuca said.
Mazzuca moved to the town in 1955 at age 8 and had his first scout experiences in Troop 28, now Troop 428. He attended and eventually worked two summers at Camp Pico Blanco in Big Sur. Mazzuca was recognized as an honor scout in the Order of the Arrow’s Esselen Lodge.
After graduating from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, Mazzuca worked for a year as a teacher at a private junior high school. In 1971, he began as a district executive for the BSA in Modesto and has worked for the organization ever since.
