Athanasios Lefkaditis (1872 in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

-June 18, 1944 in Athens) was the founder of Greek Scouting. Lefkaditis was born in 1872 to parents from

Argostoli Argostoli (, Katharevousa: ) is a town and a municipality on the island of Kefalonia, Ionian Islands (region), Ionian Islands, Greece. Since the 2019 local government reform it is one of the three municipalities on the island. It has been the capi ...

Cephalonia Kefalonia or Cephalonia (), formerly also known as Kefallinia or Kephallonia (), is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece and the 6th-largest island in Greece after Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Rhodes and Chios. It is also a separate regio ...

in the

Ionian Islands The Ionian Islands (Modern Greek: , ; Ancient Greek, Katharevousa: , ) are a archipelago, group of islands in the Ionian Sea, west of mainland Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese ("Seven Islands"; , ''Heptanēsa'' or , ''Heptanē ...

in western

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. In 1899 he received his professional physical education teaching license. His love for sports led him to become director of the Panhellenic Gymnastics Association and working with professor and school owner

Dimitris Makris Dimitrios Makris (, 1772–1841) was a Greek klepht and armatolos who was one of the most powerful chieftains in West Central Greece. He joined the Filiki Eteria and became a revolutionary during the Greek War of Independence. Early life Dim ...

(Δημήτρης Μακρής). During the

1908 Summer Olympics The 1908 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the IV Olympiad and also known as London 1908) were an international multi-sport event held in London, England, from 27 April to 31 October 1908. The 1908 Games were originally schedu ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, as a member of the Greek delegation, Lefkaditis observed with interest the British Scouts' service and activities at the Games. He met with

Robert Baden-Powell Lieutenant-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, ( ; 22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941) was a British Army officer, writer, founder of The Boy Scouts Association and its first Chief Scout, and founder, with ...

and shortly after, introduced Scouting in Greece in 1910. In November 1910 he founded the first troop of Greek Scouts comprised by a number of his pupils at the Greek School of Dimitris Makris where he was a teacher. He was memorialized in 1963 on a postage stamp of Greece for the occasion of the

11th World Scout Jamboree The 11th World Scout Jamboree was held from 1–11 August 1963 in Marathon, Greece. Jamboree activities The Jamboree Camp had 11 sub-camps for the participating Scouts and 5 sub-camps for administrative and technical personnel, and covered a tot ...

, held 1–11 August 1963 in

Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

. There are three books with his biography published so far, one by I. K. Dimitrakopoulos (1946) and two by Panayotis D. Cangelaris (1972 and 1994). Mention of him may be found in a number of other books related to Greek Scouting as well.

References

External links

Ο Αθανάσιος Λευκαδίτης στη Σχολή Ι.Μ.Παναγιωτόπουλου
1872 births 1944 deaths Scouting and Guiding in Greece Panellinios {{Greece-bio-stub