40 years later, Chick-fil-A restaurant owner becomes a Boy Scout

Forty years ago, his skin color kept him out. Today, Mike Lovitt is a Boy Scout.

Lovitt has been the owner of Chick-fil-A Bristow for the past 10 years and is a retired Army Lt. Colonel, having served 30 years.

Lovitt’s dream of becoming a Boy Scout manifested at a young age during the 1950s as a boy in Hawaii. Lovitt, an African American, didn’t much worry about prejudice in Hawaii because many had a different nationality.

It was only until his family moved to North Carolina where suddenly learned he couldn’t fulfill his dream of becoming a Boy Scout. When he wanted to join, the leaders came to his home and told his father, a U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant, they didn’t allow African American boys.

Despite his disappointment, years later, Lovitt has supported the Bou Scouts by letting them hold fundraisers at his restaurant and helping out with scout functions.

Recently, his disappointment turned into excitement when Lovitt’s friend, Holly Crocker, an Assistant Scoutmaster from Troop 1882 in Haymarket, Virginia, told him about an upcoming troop visit to the Prince William County Police Department.

He offered to help and then asked her to tell him the man of the first rank in scouts. It’s “scout,” and when she told him, he sheepishly asked her if he could have a scout patch, and shared his story about being denied entry to the Boy Scouts.

Crocker gave him the option of either being given the award or earning the award.

“I definitely want to earn it,” Lovitt said.

He had to memorize the scout oath

Lovitt’s story began to circulate throughout the scout troop. Scoutmaster Tomm Edwards and the scouts themselves were all on board with giving Lovitt the opportunity he had dreamed of since he was a little boy.

A trip to the scout store at Camp Snyder in Haymarket added to the excitement. When the assistant scoutmaster was unsure which council patch to buy for Lovitt, she explained what the troop was doing for Lovitt to Stephanie Messenger, the office director at Camp Snyder.

“I thought so. No two stories could be that similar,” said Messenger, who had already heard Lovitt’s story.

Coincidentally, she knew Lovitt because allowed the scouts to fundraise and recruit at his Chick-fil-A. Messenger walked into her storage closet full of scout awards and found a North Carolina “Old North State Council” patch that had been sent to the Camp Snyder store by mistake.

Prior to his award ceremony, the troop gave Lovitt his own scout book in order to memorize the scout oath, law, handshake, motto, slogan, and read over the requirements for the Scout rank.

Another adult scout leader donated a uniform and, and the scout patches were sewen on.  The Scoutmaster told the boys in charge of organizing the meeting and the Senior Patrol Leader and the Assistant Senior Patrol Leader for new scouts planned out how the meeting would work, and the stage was set.

He became teary-eyed

On October 8, Lovitt came to the Scout Troop 1882 meeting at Tyler Elementary School in Gainesville, near Haymarket. To the troop’s surprise, Lovitt came with his fully decorated uniform.

The Old North State Council patch, a memento of what should have been, safely tucked away in his right breast pocket. When the Troop put the scout neckerchief and slider on him, he became teary-eyed.

Lovitt beamed with pride all dressed in his new scout uniform and then he gave a hearty laugh when they told him that, for the purposes of tonight, he’s eleven years old and a sixth-grader. Soon after, he volunteered to lead the troop in the Pledge of Allegiance.

He proudly said his scout oath and law that he’d memorized to begin the meeting with all the other scouts. Then the real training began.

A dream fulfilled

Lovitt and another young scout listened as other scouts filed in to teach them how the patrol method works, what the scout ranks are, how they are earned, how to tie various knots, what each knot is used for. But the final requirement for the Scout rank is a Scoutmaster conference which Lovitt had with the Troop 1882 Scoutmaster Tomm Edwards.

At that moment, Lovitt’s dream was fulfilled.

Having already achieved so much in his life, he did something many people continue to dream of: Become a kid again. He gave a speech to the boys about how he’d done everything in his life that he’s wanted to do, including earning the Scout rank, something that he’d never thought would happen.

Lovitt then invited all the boys to his store for a Chick-fil-A meal on him.

“I had a terrific time last night,” said Lovitt. “You’ve created an experience that I will share, with others, over and over and over.”