CHAPEL HILL
Elijah Hood keeps the proof in his wallet just in case he wants to take it out and look at it, or just in case it comes up in conversation and he wants to show people that, yes, he really is an Eagle Scout.
The stories are one thing. Hood, the North Carolina junior running back, can talk about all the merit badges, the boyhood adventures in the woods, or in the water, but his Eagle Scout card is tangible proof. He reaches for his wallet and pulls it out. Tape covers a crack that runs through the middle.