The symbol of The Pennsylvania
State University at many campuses is the North American felis concolor,
variously known as the mountain lion, cougar, puma, or panther.
The large tawny-colored “cat” became extinct in this region a quarter
century after the University was founded in 1855.
The University Park Campus of Penn State is located in the broad Nittany
Valley near mount Nittany, terminal point of a mountain range also called
Nittany, a name said to be derived from Indian words meaning a protective
barrier against the elements. While the name itself can be seen
on W. Scull’s map of Pennsylvania, dated 1770, in approximately the correct
place, regional folklore connects the name Nittany or Nita-Nee with two
Indian maidens. The mythological Nita-Nee was a princess whose people
revered her for leading them into the fertile central Pennsylvania valley
safe from enemy tribes. When she died, the mountain miraculously
arose overnight at the burial site, and thus the name was given to the
geographical landmarks.
Nita-Nee became a favored name for Indian girls, one of whom figures in
another popular legend. She fell in love with a white trader who
was forced to flee by her seven brothers. They drove him into a
nearby cavern (Penn’s Cave), where he died, crying out for his lost Nita-Nee.
We now recognize that the legends of the Indian maidens were the invention
of author and publisher Henry W. Shoemaker. The story of Nita-Nee
and her lover, Malachi Boyer, first appeared in spring in 1903.
Shoemaker then attributed the tale to “an aged Seneca Indian named Isaac
Steele.” He later admitted the various Indian names were “purely
fictitious.”
Adoption of the Nittany Lion as Penn State’s athletic symbol was an idea
of Harrison D. “Joe” Mason ’07. at Princeton in 1904, he and other
members of Penn State’s varisty baseball team were shown two Bengal tigers
as an indication of the merciless treatment they would encounter in the
game. Mason replied with an instant fabrication of the Penn State
Nittany Mountain Lion king of the beasts who would overcome
even the Tiger. The team defeated Princeton and Mason persevered
with his idea.
Confusion with the African Lion was common until the symbol was officially
adopted when the Class of 1940 presented its gift of a sculptured Nittany
mountain lion in 1942. the work of noted sculptor Heinz Warneke,
the crouching, powerful figure is now the popular Nittany Lion shrine,
located at Penn State’s University Park Campus on a grassy mound amid
tall trees near Recreation Building.
Lion Dedication at Mont Alto
On February 12, 2001, Mont
Alto organized a dedication ceremony to welcome
its own Nittany Lion to campus. This eight-foot, 2,135-pound fiberglass
statue will be present to greet students and visitors to Mont Alto campus
for years to come.
The
lion was purchased for $4,000 by the students at Mont Alto using money
from the student activities fund. This lion is the seventh replica of
the
original Nittany Lion that has been constructed for Penn State campuses.
For
more information on the origin of the Nittany Lion, go to
http://www.psu.edu/ur/about/nittany.html
History of the Nittany Lion
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