Bill Bryan, third from left, executive chairman at Mt. Olive Pickle Co., has been presented the National Eagle Scout Association’s Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. Tuscarora Council-BSA President Mark Metzler, second from left, presented the award during the Council’s Tuesday night, March 19 meeting at Ribeyes Steakhouse. With Bryan were his son, Byron, left; his wife, Scottie; and son and daughter-in-law, Will and Laura Bryan. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
Bill Bryan, executive chairman at Mt. Olive Pickle Co., has been presented the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award — the National Eagle Scout Association’s highest honor for Eagle Scouts.
Bryan’s award is one of only 62 presented in North Carolina and is only the fifth time the honor has been awarded in the 101-year history of the Tuscarora Council-BSA where Bryan received his Eagle Scout rank in 1972.
Prior Tuscarora Council recipients are William “Bill” Kemp Jr., 1973; Wes Seegars, 1998; Clarence “Icky” Peacock, 1998; and Louis Maxwell, 2007.
“So this a pretty big deal, not only for our Council, but for our state,” said Mark Metzler, Tuscarora Council president, who presented the award to Bryan during the Council’s Tuesday night, March 19, board meeting at Ribeyes Steakhouse in Mount Olive.
Bryan, the son of the late Byron and Doris Bryan, was accompanied by his wife, Scottie, and their sons, Byron Bryan and Will Bryan and his wife Laura Bryan.
Like Bryan, both of the Bryans’ sons are Eagle Scouts from the Tuscarora Council.
“Mr. Bryan has distinguished himself through his career at the Mt. Olive Pickle Co. and through continued service to God, country and to others by following the principles of the Scout Oath and Scout Law,” Metzler said.
“When I went to see Mr. Bryan earlier this year to tell him that he was receiving the award it was kind of a special moment for me. For those of you who don’t know, I was a young district executive for the Tuscarora Council, and when I first met Mr. Bryan, he was Council president, which is what I do now. So I kind of feel like things have come full circle for me.”
The Distinguished Eagle Scout Award was established in 1969 by the National Eagle Scout Association to recognize Eagle Scouts who achieve extra-ordinary national-level recognition, fame or eminence with a specific profession and/or service to the nation and who have a strong record of voluntary service to their community, Metzler said.
Nominees for the award must have earned the Eagle Scout rank through the Boy Scouts of America at least 25 years prior to submission.
That requirement was determined by the average time most nominees need to establish a career, earn peer recognition, awards, fame/eminence and other factors that are considered for selection for the award.
The nomination must state specific reasons with supporting facts such as how the nominee has received extra-ordinary nation-level recognition, fame or eminence with a specific profession.
The nominations are forwarded to the National Eagle Scout Association by the sponsoring Council.
The process began in April 2023 and took eight months to complete, Metzler said.
A committee of Distinguished Eagle Scouts carefully reviews all nominations and determines selection, Metzler said.
Bryan was a Morehead Scholarship finalist and is a recipient of the Mount Olive Jaycees’ Distinguished Service Award and the Wayne County Economic Development Commission’s Industrialist of the Year Award.
He has received the Tuscarora Council Distinguished Citizens Award, Wayne County Chamber of Commerce Cornerstone Award and the Tuscarora Council-Boy Scouts of America Silver Beaver Award.
In February, Bryan received the Mount Olive Area Chamber of Commerce’s Ruff Huggins Lifetime Community Service Award that is given to an individual who has consistently donated their time, resources and dedication to the Mount Olive community year after year after year, and who does not expect recognition or payment for services rendered.
It is named in memory of Ruff Huggins, former mayor of Mount Olive and a long-standing Chamber member and supporter.
Bryan has served as: Bancshares Inc. director; Pickle Packers International Inc. director; on the First United Methodist Church council and as its treasurer; director and president of the James E. and Mary Z. Bryan Foundation; Mt. Olive Pickle Foundation president; University of Mount Olive Foundation director; Global TransPark Foundation director and secretary; Tuscarora Council-BSA board member and president; and Blue Cross & Blue Shield of N.C. trustee.
He also has served as a director of the N.C. Aquarium Society; N.C. Center for Understanding; James Sprunt Foundation; Mount Olive Area Chamber of Commerce; United Way; Goldsboro Crimestoppers; Foundation of Wayne Community College; and Wayne Economic Development Commission.
Bryan also has served as a director of the Salvation Army; Mount Olive Committee of 100; Wayne Health and Wayne Memorial Hospital; N.C. Citizens for Business and Industry; and as a trustee for Mount Olive College.
Bryan is an active member of the Mount Olive Methodist Church Peanut Crew, leaving the meeting shortly after the presentation to cook peanuts.
“That is a lot,” Metzler said.
Bryan thanked Metzler for his comments, joking that they had gone on a little too long.
“This is quite an honor,” Bryan said.
Bryan introduced his family, thanking his wife who, over the years, has supported him in the community activities he has been involved in while taking care of their family while he was gone.
“I certainly appreciate that,” he added. “I want to thank you for this recognition. It is most unexpected, quite an honor and really enhanced by the small exclusive group that I join.”
Bryan said he had the pleasure and honor of knowing the previous local award winners and their families and working in various community activities with them.
“I will just have to say it is very humbling to be included in such a prestigious group,” he added. “I have always felt like if you followed the values that we teach in Scouting, and you take them into the community, into your business — you are well prepared to make decisions; you are well prepared to weather adversity that always comes along; and you are well prepared to serve others.
“Hopefully I have done that, will continue to do that. I certainly want to thank everybody for this award. I know a lot of work, eight months, and I think there was a lot of paperwork, a lot of exchanges.”
Bryan also thanked Council members for their friendship and for what they do for Scouting every day.
