Darth Vader's own elite troopers in Star Wars have a unit name, the 501st Legion, and it did not start at Lucasfilm. It belonged first to a club of fans in their own stormtrooper armor, started in South Carolina in 1997.

Two Troopers Drew the Crowd

Albin Johnson and Tom Crews were Star Wars fans who tracked down stormtrooper armor through early internet mailing lists.

Johnson's suit arrived in time for a screening of The Empire Strikes Back. Crews had his for Return of the Jedi.

The pair quickly noticed that two stormtroopers drew a far bigger reaction than one. Johnson set up a simple GeoCities website called Detention Block 2551 so other fans with armor could find them.

Why the Number 501

Johnson gave the group a made-up backstory as a fighting unit of Imperial stormtroopers. The number had no movie behind it.

"I wanted something that sounded military, had a big number, and ended in a 'one,'" he wrote on the club's website.

The club started out as a "squad." As it grew, Johnson switched to "Legion," after the legions of ancient Rome, and was pleased to notice that the Emperor uses the same word in Return of the Jedi, where a legion of his best troops waits on Endor.

Star Wars Borrowed the Name

In 2004, author Timothy Zahn, with Lucasfilm's approval, wrote a 501st Legion of elite stormtroopers into his novel Survivor's Quest as a tribute to the fan group.

A year later the name reached the main saga. The blue-marked clone troopers who serve Vader in Revenge of the Sith are officially designated the 501st Legion, nicknamed "Vader's Fist," in the film's licensed books and merchandise, though the name is never spoken on screen.

The 2005 game Battlefront II made the 501st its main fighting force, and the animated series The Clone Wars gave the unit a fan favorite to lead it, Captain Rex.

George Lucas Led the Parade

On January 1, 2007, less than ten years after the club began, 200 of its troopers marched in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California.

The grand marshal that year was George Lucas himself.

Fans in full white stormtrooper armor marching down a city street in a parade, spectators watching from the curb — Stormtrooper costumers march in Atlanta's St. Patrick's Day parade, 2006. Photo: Bruno Girin, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Still Suiting Up, Still Free

The club's own website now lists more than 14,000 active members in more than 70 units around the world. Costumes are fan-made, and each one has to be approved before its owner can join.

Charity was never part of Johnson's original plan. Today it is the heart of the club.

Members do not charge for appearances. They ask hosts to donate to a charity instead.

In 2016 alone, members logged more than 182,000 hours of community service, according to the club's figures.

The 2026 calendar of one East Coast unit shows how that looks: St. Patrick's Day parades in March, charity walks and a children's hospital visit in May, and a day out with hospital families in August.

The troopers who gave Vader's legion its name are still marching.

Top photo: Michael Neel / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

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