"The Nittany Lion" is a traditional

fight song A fight song is a rousing short song associated with a sports team. The term is most common in the United States and Canada. In Australia, Mexico, and New Zealand these songs are called the team anthem, team song, or games song. First associated ...

played by the Penn State Blue Band at

football games Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and other sporting events. During the pre-game show of home football games at

Beaver Stadium Beaver Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium on the campus of Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pennsylvania. It has been home to the Penn State Nittany Lions of the Big Ten Conference since 1960, though some parts of ...

, it is part of the traditional

Lion Fanfare and Downfield "Lion Fanfare and Downfield" is a fight song medley of the Pennsylvania State University. It is performed at the beginning of every football game in which the Penn State Blue Band is present. The "Lion Fanfare" is performed with a fanfare step w ...

. While it is not the official fight song of Penn State, it is one of the songs most widely associated with the university, and is also incorrectly referred to as "Hail to the Lion" (or Lions). On Fridays and Saturdays, the clock tower in Penn State's

Old Main Old Main is a term often applied to the original building present on college or university campuses in the United States. The building serves today as home to administrative offices, such as the president or provost, but in its early inception may ...

plays a line of the chorus music at the fifteen-minute mark of each hour, and adds a line every 15 minutes until the whole chorus is played on the completion of the hour.

History

"The Nittany Lion" was written by Penn State graduate and former

Glee Club A glee club in the United States is a musical group or choir group, historically of male voices but also of female or mixed voices, which traditionally specializes in the singing of short songs by trios or quartets. In the late 19th century it w ...

member James Leyden between 1922 and 1924. Professor Hummel Fishburn and Blue Band Bandmaster Tommy Thompson assisted Leyden in finishing the song, which was premiered at a

pep rally A pep rally or pep assembly is a gathering of people, typically students of middle school, high school, and college age, before a sports event. The purpose of such a gathering is to encourage school spirit and to support members of the team ...

the night before a football game to instant popularity. The second verse was used prior to 1993, when Penn State was an IA Independent school. When it joined the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

athletically in 1993, the third verse, The Big Ten verse, was written. Currently the Blue Band performs the first and third verse of The Nittany Lion.

References

External links

Mp3 of "The Nittany Lion"
at the Penn State Blue Band website

at the Penn State Glee Club website {{DEFAULTSORT:Nittany Lion American college songs College fight songs in the United States Nittany Year of song missing 1920s songs

History

See also

References

External links