Nittany Lion
|
|
Psu.lion.shrine.ncs.jpg
The Nittany Lion is the mascot of the Pennsylvania State University in State College, Pennsylvania in the United States. It refers to the mountain lions that once roamed nearby Mount Nittany.
The mascot was the creation of Penn State senior H. D. "Joe" Mason in 1907. While on a 1904 trip to Princeton University, Mason had been embarrassed that Penn State did not have a similar mascot. Mason, of course, did not let that deter him...he fabricated the Nittany Lion on the spot and proclaimed that it would easily defeat even the Princeton Bengal tiger. Upon returning to campus, though, he set about making his invention a reality. In 1907, he wrote in the student publication The Lemon:
"Every college the world over of any consequence has a college emblem of some kind--all but The Pennsylvania State College... Why not select for ours the king of beasts--the Lion!! Dignified, courageous, magnificent, the Lion allegorically represents all that our College Spirit should be, so why not 'the Nittany Mountain Lion?' Why cannot State have a kingly, all-conquering Lion as the eternal sentinel?"
Mountain lions had roamed on nearby Mount Nittany until the 1880s, when they were eliminated. The origin of the name "Mount Nittany" is obscure, with the most commonly accepted explanation is that it is derived of Native American words meaning either "single mountain" or "protective barrier against the elements."
The name was readily accepted without a vote of the student body. In 1907, the first tangible lion symbols appeared with the placing of two alabaster African lion statues, left over from the Pennsylvania exhibit at the 1904 St. Louis Exposition, atop the columns at the main campus entrance on College and Allen streets. They were affectionately dubbed by the student body as "Pa" and "Ma." In the 1920s, a pair of stuffed mountain lions was placed in the Recreation Building to watch over athletic events. One of these original lions is now located in Pattee Library on the Penn State campus. About that same time, the tradition was established of having a student dressed in furry-lion outfits appear at football games.
During the 1930s, seeking a place to hold pep rallies and victory celebrations, students launched a campaign for a lion shrine. As its gift to the university, the Class of 1940 voted to give the sum of $5,430 to pay for the construction of such a shrine, which was to be constructed between the Recreation Building and Beaver Field, with the lion framed against a natural setting of trees, grass, and shrubs. The sculptor Heinze Warnecke was retained to carve the lion at the site from a thirteen-ton block of limestone. The sculpture was formally unveiled on October 24, 1942. The shrine has come to be one of the most visited and photographed sites on campus.
External links
- The Pennsylvania State University site (http://www.libraries.psu.edu/speccolls/psua/psgeneralhistory/bezillapshistory/083sv028..htm) on the lion shrine