Cover story
Everyday heroes - part 1
John Hooten leads by example in unicycle group and as long-time Scout Master
Date Published: January 2007
[Susan Jameson/Granite Bay View]
John Hooten and his unicycle outside his Granite Bay home.
For more than a decade, John Hooten has been the stabilizing force behind Boy Scout Troop 121 and the unicycle instructor to hundreds of local kids.
A former Olympic rowing coach, Hooten had distracted himself from obsessing about coaching by teaching himself (among other things) to ride a unicycle. He had never been taught to ride one, nor had he seen anyone ride one before. But that changed when he moved his family - including wife Susan, sons John, now 25, and Woody, 22, and daughter Julia, 20 -from Philadelphia to Granite Bay in 1990.
As he was registering his eldest son in school, he noticed several neighborhood kids riding unicycles. Shortly after, he discovered the local 4-H had a group of unicyclists. When his son Woody also became interested in riding, they joined the group.
"When we got there the whole thing was kind of loose," says Hooten. "There were a couple of adults who took care of entering parades and were in charge of getting it organized but they didn't know anything about riding a unicycle."
When Hooten showed up and knew how to ride, he instantly became the unicycle instructor. He bought unicycles at garage sales and taught his son and others to ride for a few years.
Once the kids started to learn to do stunts, they began to break a lot of unicycles. In an effort to find a better unicycle, Hooten used a brand new tool to connect with other unicyclists - the Internet.
Not only did Foss help with the unicycle problem, he showed up at a meeting and demonstrated tricks for the kids. He also provided them with higher quality unicycles.
Since then, Hooten and the unicycle group, now associated with the Boy Scout Troop rather than the 4-H, has been to national and world championships as far away as Japan and China. Hooten also started mountain unicycling and has been unicycling for fitness for 10 years.
"It is the one form of exercise that I don't have to force myself to do. I always look forward to it," he says.
As a former Olympic coach and current swim coach, Hooten views teaching kids the benefits of lifelong fitness as one of his prime motivators in the unicycling club as well as the Boy Scouts.
A Scout himself, when his sons became involved in Boy Scouting, Hooten helped out, becoming the High Adventure Chair the second year. In this position, he helped lead backpacking expeditions and some of the more adventurous things done by Boy Scouts.
"One of the things that I noticed was that there was just a lack of continuity in the troop," he says. "For the first three years my older son was in the troop, there were four different Scout Masters. Although it didn't change completely, every time we got a new Scout Master it changed enough."
In an effort to bring continuity to the troop, Hooten became Scout Master for the unusually large troop (more than 100 boys are served). He initially made a four-year commitment to serve the group.
"The first year was really hard and I could see why we had been running through Scout Masters," he says. "I realized I needed to delegate authority and not try to do everything myself."
Once the four years were up, however, he decided to hang in there until his younger son finished Scouting. Another three years later, he decided to stay on.
"At that point it was getting easier and Sue encouraged it very much," says Hooten. "She likes the idea of getting involved in the community in a positive way."
Through the years, Hooten has assisted 106 Boy Scouts in achieving the rank of Eagle, the highest a Boy Scout can attain.
Hooten likens the Eagle Rank to the Olympic movement in that Eagle Scouts are champion Scouts. It differs, he says, in that to obtain the rank of Eagle, the Scout does not have to beat anyone.
"It takes a long time to do it, you are going to have to work hard, you are going to have to be focused, you are going to have to be determined, you are going to have to stick with it. But if you do, you'll be a champion. And I really like that," he says.
Although the rank is noncompetitive, Hooten does see value in learning to compete, it's part of the reason he is a swim coach at Johnson Ranch Racquet Club.
"I think it's important that kids learn how to compete. Very often in life there are things you have to do to get that job, to make that sale or do this or do that," says Hooten. "But competition counts for about 5 percent of life. The other 95 percent is about cooperation. ... Scouts is about learning how to cooperate. Your going to achieve an individual goal but when you do it, it's part of a group that's working together to achieve something greater."
Hooten leads by example, challenging himself as well as the boys to try things outside their comfort zone.
"Things they might not know they can do or even I didn't know I could do," he explains. "We don't always do things that are easy just because they are easy to do. A lot of times we do things that are pretty difficult, because they are difficult to do you can appreciate them that much more later on."
Though his children are now all out of the house, Hooten continues to volunteer as Scout Master and unicycle coach. He says it has become a lot easier over the years and he has a number of Assistant Scout Masters who help lead the troop.
"It has become my hobby. I know what I'm going to do on Tuesdays and Thursdays; I have Scout meetings to go to," he says. "It also has that built-in calendar of outdoor activities to stay involved in."
As in everything else, the concept of volunteerism is something Hooten illustrates by example.
"That whole sense of being a good participating citizen is what we are teaching in Scouts," he says. "If you are going to do this, the reward alone of giving something back, of putting something into the community, is very rewarding. The hidden benefits are the number of people you get to meet. Through our troop have been an incredible number of very talented, brilliant people from all walks of life."
A former Olympic rowing coach, Hooten had distracted himself from obsessing about coaching by teaching himself (among other things) to ride a unicycle. He had never been taught to ride one, nor had he seen anyone ride one before. But that changed when he moved his family - including wife Susan, sons John, now 25, and Woody, 22, and daughter Julia, 20 -from Philadelphia to Granite Bay in 1990.
As he was registering his eldest son in school, he noticed several neighborhood kids riding unicycles. Shortly after, he discovered the local 4-H had a group of unicyclists. When his son Woody also became interested in riding, they joined the group.
"When we got there the whole thing was kind of loose," says Hooten. "There were a couple of adults who took care of entering parades and were in charge of getting it organized but they didn't know anything about riding a unicycle."
When Hooten showed up and knew how to ride, he instantly became the unicycle instructor. He bought unicycles at garage sales and taught his son and others to ride for a few years.
Once the kids started to learn to do stunts, they began to break a lot of unicycles. In an effort to find a better unicycle, Hooten used a brand new tool to connect with other unicyclists - the Internet.
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Through it he connected with John Foss, a four-time World Champion unicyclist. After Hooten sent him an e-mail, Foss called him and they talked unicycle for a while before Foss asked Hooten if Granite Bay was anywhere near Rocklin, where Foss lived.Not only did Foss help with the unicycle problem, he showed up at a meeting and demonstrated tricks for the kids. He also provided them with higher quality unicycles.
Since then, Hooten and the unicycle group, now associated with the Boy Scout Troop rather than the 4-H, has been to national and world championships as far away as Japan and China. Hooten also started mountain unicycling and has been unicycling for fitness for 10 years.
"It is the one form of exercise that I don't have to force myself to do. I always look forward to it," he says.
As a former Olympic coach and current swim coach, Hooten views teaching kids the benefits of lifelong fitness as one of his prime motivators in the unicycling club as well as the Boy Scouts.
A Scout himself, when his sons became involved in Boy Scouting, Hooten helped out, becoming the High Adventure Chair the second year. In this position, he helped lead backpacking expeditions and some of the more adventurous things done by Boy Scouts.
"One of the things that I noticed was that there was just a lack of continuity in the troop," he says. "For the first three years my older son was in the troop, there were four different Scout Masters. Although it didn't change completely, every time we got a new Scout Master it changed enough."
In an effort to bring continuity to the troop, Hooten became Scout Master for the unusually large troop (more than 100 boys are served). He initially made a four-year commitment to serve the group.
"The first year was really hard and I could see why we had been running through Scout Masters," he says. "I realized I needed to delegate authority and not try to do everything myself."
Once the four years were up, however, he decided to hang in there until his younger son finished Scouting. Another three years later, he decided to stay on.
"At that point it was getting easier and Sue encouraged it very much," says Hooten. "She likes the idea of getting involved in the community in a positive way."
Through the years, Hooten has assisted 106 Boy Scouts in achieving the rank of Eagle, the highest a Boy Scout can attain.
Hooten likens the Eagle Rank to the Olympic movement in that Eagle Scouts are champion Scouts. It differs, he says, in that to obtain the rank of Eagle, the Scout does not have to beat anyone.
"It takes a long time to do it, you are going to have to work hard, you are going to have to be focused, you are going to have to be determined, you are going to have to stick with it. But if you do, you'll be a champion. And I really like that," he says.
Although the rank is noncompetitive, Hooten does see value in learning to compete, it's part of the reason he is a swim coach at Johnson Ranch Racquet Club.
"I think it's important that kids learn how to compete. Very often in life there are things you have to do to get that job, to make that sale or do this or do that," says Hooten. "But competition counts for about 5 percent of life. The other 95 percent is about cooperation. ... Scouts is about learning how to cooperate. Your going to achieve an individual goal but when you do it, it's part of a group that's working together to achieve something greater."
Hooten leads by example, challenging himself as well as the boys to try things outside their comfort zone.
"Things they might not know they can do or even I didn't know I could do," he explains. "We don't always do things that are easy just because they are easy to do. A lot of times we do things that are pretty difficult, because they are difficult to do you can appreciate them that much more later on."
Though his children are now all out of the house, Hooten continues to volunteer as Scout Master and unicycle coach. He says it has become a lot easier over the years and he has a number of Assistant Scout Masters who help lead the troop.
"It has become my hobby. I know what I'm going to do on Tuesdays and Thursdays; I have Scout meetings to go to," he says. "It also has that built-in calendar of outdoor activities to stay involved in."
As in everything else, the concept of volunteerism is something Hooten illustrates by example.
"That whole sense of being a good participating citizen is what we are teaching in Scouts," he says. "If you are going to do this, the reward alone of giving something back, of putting something into the community, is very rewarding. The hidden benefits are the number of people you get to meet. Through our troop have been an incredible number of very talented, brilliant people from all walks of life."
Susan Jameson is the editor of the Granite Bay View. She can be reached at susanj@goldcountrymedia.com.
