Survivor always a Scout at heart
Members of the Coeur d’Alene Police Department joined the Boy Scouts of America Inland Northwest Council Leadership Breakfast at the Coeur d’Alene Inn Tuesday. From left: Joe Scholten, Caleb Hutchison, Kyle Cannon, Sgt. Don Craft, keynote speaker Terry Fossum, Scout Executive/CEO Karen Meier, Sgt. Brady Reed, Capt. Dave Hagar, Eric Nordman. (COURTESY PHOTO)
Keynote speaker Terry Fossum’s career includes winning half a million dollars on a reality TV show that paired 10 survival experts with 10 novices. FOX TV/Courtesy photo
Millionaire businessman and retired Air Force commander Terry Fossum spoke about how being a Boy Scout profoundly impacted his life.
The organization’s annual leadership breakfast, held Tuesday at the Coeur d’Alene Best Western Plus Inn, was attended by about 125 community leaders and raised $42,060 for the Inland Northwest Council.
Fossum recalled how his time in Boy Scouts as a youth helped him believe in himself and his abilities.
“Scouts taught me that the impossible is only impossible if I say it is,” Fossum said.
Fossum grew up in McAllen, Texas, a city on the Mexican border notorious for drug-related gang violence. It’s the poorest city in America, Fossum said.
In a particularly stirring moment, Fossum shared his memory of stumbling across a drug deal near his childhood home as a 14-year-old.
“To be in my back alley at that time of night is a really, really bad idea,” he said. “But it got worse.”
Fossum described headlights shining on him as he explored the commotion in the alley and a man emerging from the car to confront him.
“The guy walked out in front of those headlights with an assault rifle and pointed it right at me,” he said.
Fossum used the story as an example of how easily he could have been led down the wrong path, especially after his father was killed while Fossum was in high school.
However, he said, the support provided by Boy Scouts kept him from wavering.
“My male role model was dead,” Fossum said. “But scouting gave me a whole slew of other male role models. Scouting gave me a group of guys who I thought were the coolest people ever.”
In addition to its importance during his formative years, Fossum said he still uses lessons learned as a Scout today.
Most notably, in 2017 he won the first and only season of a survival reality TV show called “Kicking and Screaming,” in which survival experts were paired with “nature-phobic partners” and forced to complete challenges for a $500,000 prize.
Fossum, who now lives in Spokane Valley, said the show epitomized what Boy Scouts is all about.
“We elevate people,” Fossum said. “We take whatever their background is and we lift them up. We don’t care what they’ve learned in their families or their schools or their streets. We teach them a higher code of ethics. We change their lives forever.”
Fossum also highlighted how his background with the organization fueled his desire to do philanthropic work, including tackling malnourishment in Malawi and offering scholarships to underprivileged youth in his hometown.
“Scouting taught me that when I go to a campsite, I leave it better than it was when I got there,” he said.
Finally, Fossum concluded with a story about his brother, Mike, and Mike’s goal of becoming an astronaut.
Mike, who was also a Boy Scout, endured six failed attempts — each lasting two years — before realizing his dream when NASA selected him on his seventh try.
Since then, Mike has gone on three missions and spent the 12th-most time in space among U.S. astronauts, according to Fossum.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned throughout my life,” Fossum said, “never, ever underestimate the power of a Scout.”