Nittany derives from the Algonquian word Nit-A-Nee, meaning "single mountain." The area’s original inhabitants used Nit-A-Nee to describe the mountain, and the first Europeans to settle the area in the 18th century likely corrupted it to Nittany. By the time Penn State was founded in 1855, the word was already in use. Harrison "Joe" Mason, third baseman on the 1904 Penn State baseball team, is credited with originating the idea of a mountain lion as Penn State’s mascot when he boasted to a visiting Princeton baseball team that Mount Nittany stood on campus and was ruled by the Nittany Mountain Lion, who had never been beaten in a fair fight.