About Pack 1220
OUR HISTORY
Pack 1220 started when Hendrick School opened as a K-8 school in 1987. Hedgcoxe Elementary was a field, Legacy Dr. did not connect to I-75, and Plano had a population of 100,000. The Cross Creek neighborhood was just nearing completion.
Prior to 1987, all K-5 students went to Thomas Elementary and attended Pack 235.
In the winter of 1987, it was announced to the scouts and families of Pack 235 that a new pack was forming at the then new Hendrick School. Paul Nolte volunteered as the Cub Master and to organize the committees. During the summer of 1987, Paul met with other families in the Nolte’s living room and signed the first charter of Pack 1220 with a district executive. The Pack number was a randomly chosen number assigned by Council 10. Pack 1220 was off to the races and looking to have a lot of fun!
Pack 1220 had very little funding. Pack 235 donated the initial funds to start a checking account. The very first item purchased was the Pack 1220 Pack Flag that said “Hendrick School”. Pack 1220 started with 30 boys that transferred from Pack 235.
Many great traditions were started that year. The first Christmas gift exchange was held where all Cub Scouts and their siblings sat in a very large circle while Paul read “Twas the Night Before Christmas”. When the boys heard a rhymed word, they passed the gift to the left. The boys loved it! The first cake contest was held at Blue and Gold, over 5,000 cans of food were collected at Scouting for Food, and the first Crossover graduation ceremony was held. Pack 1220 started the tradition of furnishing new Boy Scouts with rank books and neckerchiefs as a gift at Crossover.
As for the Pinewood Derby track, Pack 1220 was very lucky. Two fathers approached Paul in October 1987 and presented plans to build a high-tech and fully automated track. The plans consisted of custom designed circuit boards, an automated starting gate, and a high-quality dimensionally stable track with a Ford blue automotive paint job. The track made its debut at Hendrick School in February 1988 and made the local newspapers! Pack 1220 began to rent out the track to other packs. The Pinewood Derby track has traveled as far north as Anna and as far south as Cedar Hill. The fathers who designed and manufactured the track were John Mouser, who did the electronics, and Jeff Sherman, who did the woodworking.
Jeff Sherman also built the Raingutter Regatta troughs that are still used today. What an amazing job on these two projects that are still in use!
Hedcoxe Elementary opened in 1990 and Pack 1220 moved to its new home. The Pack became very large as it accepted boys from other neighborhoods and grew to 125 very active scouts and their parents. In 1993, Pack 1220 split when Pack 2102 opened at Razor Elementary School.
In 2014 BSA decided to discontinue selling single hull boats and we switched to Trimaran boats for Raingutter Regatta. This required updates to our Regatta troughs, which were very skillfully done, as well as some needed repairs, by Bill Owen, a parent and den leader of our pack. This was also the year we finally ran into the fact that new technology required updates to the Pinewood Derby Track. And again we found a very able resource among our own parents. Brian McInnis undertook the task to bring the track up to date, as well as a couple of needed repairs. Now both tracks can hopefully serve us at least another 30 years.
To this day Pack 1220 is grateful to the entrepreneurial spirit of Paul Nolte and technical skills of our parents. May we continue to take great pride in our history and continue to train young Scouts to always do your best!
Pack 1220 continues to attract Scouts from all over Collin County with it’s active Scouting Program. If you would like to join the fun, just drop us a note or visit us anytime.