Comments

January 5, 2010, 2:16 pm

W. Thomas Kelly

Gene Whetstone was, in fact, the first Nittany Lion, and he ordered the suit, I believe. He wore it for one football game at Penn's Franklin Field. Shortly thereafter he spotted me in Rec Hall and called me over. He said "Kelly, try this on". It was the Lion's suit and it fit. Thus, I became the LION. What fun ! My fraternity roommate was Jimmy Leyden who was the Blue Band Drum Major who tossed the baton in high fashion. We put on many skits with cheer leaders including those of opposing teamsI I continued as Lion until I transferred to the Harvard Business School in early1942. (Thus, I never graduated from Penn State and I don't appear in our year book) After I transferred Les Thurston of our fraternity (Beta Theta Pi) continued as the Lion, I believe. By the way, i do believe that the original Lion suit as purchased by Gene Whetstone was a better rendition of a Nittany Lion than the current one in use. There must be several pictures of the original suit from past years. The Beta House archives probably have some. Please give my best the Gene Whetstone. Tom Kelly, 1942 Graduating Class

January 17, 2010, 2:18 pm

Suzanne Mutschler

We look forward to purchasing a copy of this documentary. We would like to note one thing. Although it is part of the criteria that the lion not speak while in costume, we attended a homecoming parade in the fall of 1975, and our daughter, who was one year old at the time, was holding her baby bottle. The lion took it from her and she began to wail! It was not offensive to us, her parents, at all, but being a true gentleman, he apologized for taking it and making her cry. We have photos of the moment and hold the lion in very high regard because he DID speak and apologize for this humorous moment. It meant a lot to us, especially my husband, a 1976 PSU architectural engineering grad.