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Penn State University - NITTANY LIONS |
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Penn State University Traditions and History:
Old Main Quarry
The depression in the earth on the southeast corner of Old Main lawn is the site of the limestone
quarry from which stones were cut to build the first Old Main. Some of these blocks were re-used in construction of
the current Old Main when it was built in 1930. The area, later landscaped as a natural bowl, was used as an
open-air theatre for pageants, plays, and ceremonies.
Nittany Lions Football
Penn State is also among the leaders nationwide in terms of players advancing to the professional level.
As of 2006, 29 former Penn State players and coaches were on
the rosters of NFL teams, the tenth-highest such placement rate in the country. Penn State has been represented
in at least one of the teams participating in the Super Bowl 37 of the 41 times the championship game has been
played.
A recent report indicated that Penn State's football program ranks 12th nationwide in terms of economic
contributions to each program's university, athletic department, conference, and community. The report,
based on ticket sales, sponsorships, football program expenses, athletic department expenses (non-football),
shared conference profits, and county revenue figures during home football games, revealed that the
Nittany Lions are presently worth roughly US$63 million.
Nittany Lion Celebrates 100th birthday
On April 20, 1904, Harrison Denning "Joe" Mason, a freshman on the Pennsylvania State College baseball team,
fabricated the creature that would later become Penn State's mascot. The transformation came by adding the
word "Nittany," after the mountain near campus, to the name of the mountain lion, an animal that roamed
Pennsylvania until it became extinct in the 1880s.
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