A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ADVENTURE GUIDE PROGRAM:

It was these chance remarks made in the early 1920s by Joe Friday, an Ojibway Indian hunting guide to his friend Harold Keltner, a St. Louis YMCA director, that planted the visionary seed which grew into what became the Indian Guides program, a father and son experience involving over a quarter of a million children and adults annually in the YMCA across the Country. In 1925, Harold Keltner arranged for Joe Friday to speak before boys and dads in the St. Louis area. One evening after a talk given at a father and son banquet, Joe was so closely surrounded by fathers that the boys could not get near him. The realization that father and sons shared a common interest in Native American traditions and ways gave Harold an idea. Perhaps this strong mutual interest could be put at the heart of a program aimed at closing the gap that he had seen widening between American fathers and their sons. Harold set out to establish a program that would encapsulate the best qualities of the American Indian culture and life: Dignity, Patience, Endurance, Spirituality, Feeling for the earth, and Concern for the family. From this, the Y-Indian Guide programs were born.

A year later, Harold organized the first tribe of Y-Indian Guides in Richmond Heights, MO., with the help of Joe and William Hefelfinger, who served as the first chief of that tribe. Although it grew slowly at first, the program was eventually recognized as a national YMCA program in 1935. The popularity of Y-Indian Guides grew rapidly in the post-World War II period of 1942 to 1962, guided by John Ledie, the YMCA national advisor.

In 1951, the acknowledgement that little girls also need support in their personal growth combined with the demonstrated success of the father-son program led to the development of parent-daughter groups. The mother-daughter program, called Indian Maidens, was established in South Bend, Indiana. Three years later, father-daughter groups, which were called Y-Indian-Princesses, originated in Fresno, California. During the late 1970's, the Y-Indian-Braves, a program for mothers and sons emerged, and was officially recognized in 1980 by the National Executive Committee of the National Longhouse at Dearborn, Michigan.

Although some Y-Indian-Guide groups had extended their father-son experiences beyond the first three grades from the beginning, it was not until 1969 that the Y-Trail-Blazers plan was recognized by the National Long House Executive Committee for sons 9 to 11 years old and their fathers. Trail Maidens, Trail Mates and Co-Ed Trail Blazers also were developed and recognized in YMCAs across the country. The Y-Indian-Guide Program was further expanded to include preschoolers and their parents in the Y-Papoose Program.

In 2002 the Y-Indian-Guides, Y-Trail-Blazers, Trail Maidens, Trail Mates and Y-Indian-Princesses programs evolved into what is now recognized as the Y-Adventure Guides. Carrying our rich history into the future, the Y-Adventure-Guides continue to embody the same principles and strong family commitments that our forefathers bestowed upon the very first members of the program.