Vahan Cheraz in scout uniform

Vahan Cheraz was a well-known Armenian athlete and one of the founders of the scout movement in Constantinople (Istanbul) and in the Republic of Armenia. He was among the founders of Homenetmen, the Armenian General Athletic Union. Cheraz was the first to bring football to the Ottoman Empire; he founded football teams and organised games. At the Armenian club Tork, founded in Constantinople in 1908, he was the leading player of the football team.

In 1914, at the start of the First World War, he went to Tiflis (Tbilisi), joined the Armenian volunteer detachment commanded by Andranik Ozanyan and fought until 1919. In 1920, at the invitation of the Minister of Education Nikol Aghbalyan, he moved to Gyumri. In Soviet times he worked for the American Near East Relief committee, cared for orphans and organised scout and sports groups. In 1927 he was arrested in Gyumri, and on 9 January 1928 he was shot in Tiflis.

In the photograph he wears a scout uniform with a wide-brimmed hat, a neckerchief and shorts, holding a stick.