What is a Nittany Lion?

In a sport full of Tigers, Bulldogs and Wildcats, there are a handful of nicknames among the top programs in college football that really stand out and give the organization some of the distinctive character that defines it.

There are the Alabama Crimson Tide, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Ohio State Buckeyes, Michigan Wolverines, Texas Longhorns, Oklahoma Sooners, Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers, among others.

Then there are the Penn State Nittany Lions.

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The name is synonymous with the school’s proud football program, so much so that it can be unsettling to hear Penn State casually referred to as the “Lions.” It is the name associated with the program’s past gridiron triumphs, be it the nearly 943 all-time wins or two national championships won. It’s even been mentioned in hip-hop songs (albeit one that references the less-than-stellar NFL career of one of its former star running backs).

But how did the name come about? And what exactly is a Nittany Lion?

Ahead of Thursday’s Orange Bowl game against Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff semifinals, we take a closer look at why Penn State is called the Nittany Lions:

The reality of the Nittany lion is not nearly as exotic or mysterious as its name suggests.

Penn State’s longtime mascot is a common mountain lion, the species that roamed the mountains near the school’s State College campus until the late 19th century. One of the Nittany Lions’ historical rivals, the Pitt Panthers, bears a similar taxonomic nickname for a similar reason.

The “Nittany” part of the nickname comes from Mount Nittany, a 2,000-foot ridge in central Pennsylvania overlooking the university.

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Why is Penn State the Nittany Lions?

Geographical proximity to mountain lions was no guarantee that Penn State would select the animal as its mascot. Nicknames don’t always make sense. After all, there aren’t many lakes in Los Angeles and there isn’t a particularly strong jazz scene in Utah.

The origins of the term “Nittany Lion” and its connection to Penn State date back to 1904. According to “The Nittany Lion: An Illustrated Tale” by authors Jackie Esposito and Steven Herb, the Penn State baseball team was playing an away game in April. When the Penn State players arrived at the school gym, a Princeton player bragged that the visitors had one “You should take a look at the emblem with the “Princeton Tiger,” the wildest animal of all.”

At the time, Penn State’s athletic teams had no official mascot or nickname, although they did have an unofficial mascot, Old Coaly, a black mule. Hoping to quickly counter this nonsense, Penn State third baseman Harrison “Joe” Mason shot back, saying, “Up at Penn State, we have Mount Nittany right on our campus where the Nittany Mountain Lion reigns , who has never been put down.” a fair fight. So, Princeton Tiger, watch out!”

The name for the hastily christened beast would have more staying power than Mason could have ever imagined.

In 1907, when the university did not yet have a mascot, Mason and a group of his fellow students founded The Lemon, the university’s first humor magazine. Writing under a pseudonym, Mason urged his fellow Penn Staters to adopt the “Old Nittany Mountain Lion” as the school’s mascot. In an essay he wrote:

Yale, she loves her old bulldog,

Princeton has its tiger cruel,

Dickinson, her beefy mastiff

West Point claims the Army Mule.

Pennsylvania is the Quaker,

Michigan the wolverine,

But where is Old Penn State?

Oh! We’re sorry to have to announce this

She still sleeps in the shadows of Nittany.

Mountain lions had been extinct in the area for some time, with the last one captured in Center County, where Penn State is located, in 1893. However, there was a stuffed mountain lion on display in Penn State’s old main building on campus, which Mason and thousands of other students regularly passed by.

The nickname soon spread, although initially with some confusion. The first Nittany Lion mascot costume worn by a student in 1921 was an African lion, mane and all, that came from a campus theater production of “Androcles and the Lion.” Shortly after this student graduated, Penn State went without a costumed Nittany Lion for nearly two decades until 1939, when a costume much more similar to a mountain lion was introduced and was used at pep rallies and sporting events. The rest, as they say, is history.

The Nittany Lion later appeared in other locations on campus, most notably with a statue, the Nittany Lion Shrine, by sculptor Heinz Warneke, which was dedicated in 1942.

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What is a Nittany Lion?

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