In Newark's Ironbound, 90-year-old scoutmaster is always prepared

A lot has changed in the Ironbound section of Newark since Julio Balde joined the Boy Scouts. Balde, then 16, and already in trade school, was unenthusiastic, but his father's Portuguese sport club had started a new troop and he didn't have a choice. Seventy-four years later, Balde still proudly wears the uniform. In 1942 he founded Newark Troop 102, in the Ironbound, and for nearly seven decades, he's been the troop's only scoutmaster. Troop 102 has produced a remarkable 43 Eagle Scouts -- as well as countless numbers of doctors, lawyers, military -- even Newark's deputy chief of police. Balde is a spry 90-year-old who still drives himself to meetings on Wednesday nights at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church and takes the troop on regular camping trips. And though he frequently doles out pushups for bad behavior, his gruffness inevitably grows on his scouts. (Video by Nyier Abdou/The Star-Ledger)