in 1957 bánáthy began enlarging a concept for a leadership development program. as council training chairman in the monterey bay area council of the boy scouts of america, he received strong support from the council executive and council executive board for his proposal to train boys in leadership skills. he was assisted by fellow hungarians joe szentkiralyi (aka st. clair, chair of the hungarian language department at the army language school) and paul sujan (hungarian language instructor at the army language school); fran peterson (a member of the national council and a scoutmaster from chular, california); and maury tripp (a scouter from saratoga, california, a member of the national council, and a research scientist). "lord baden-powell was my personal idol and i long felt a commitment to give back to scouting what i had received", bánáthy said.