|
According to Penn State's All Things Nittany, the word "Nittany" probably derives from a Native American term meaning "single mountain." The Algonquian-speaking tribes of central Pennsylvania used this description for the mountain separating what are today Penns Valley and Nittany Valley. The mountain overlooks the town of State College, where the Penn State campus is located. Some regional folklore, however, states the mountain was formed by the Great Spirit in honor of the Indian princess Nittany (or Nita-Nee). As for the famed Nittany
Lion...well, way back in 1904 (just a year or two, perhaps, before football coach Joe Paterno took the helm) baseball player Harrison D. "Joe" Mason took umbrage at rival Princeton's bad manners in flaunting a statue of its Bengal tiger mascot in front of the Penn State team during a game. So Mason started a campaign to make mascotless Penn's good-luck animal the ferocious mountain lion, many of which roamed Pennsylvania in the 19th century, and which were thought to kick Bengal tiger butt. Tacking on the word "Nittany" was a natural, and a new mascot-cum-fictitious species was born. By the way, if you'd like to make the Nittany Lion roar, go ahead. We know you want
to.
|
