A: One of the football team’s oldest traditions has roots in gymnastics, wrestling, and a former Pennsylvania governor. In 1939, legendary gymnastics coach Gene Wettstone created a circus atmosphere at home meets in which his gymnasts would perform various skills for the crowd. According to Jackie Esposito, historian and co-author of The Nittany Lion: An Illustrated Tale, traditional two-armed pushups were a part of the warmup act, and the Lion mascot—aka The Man in the Suit—was part of the act. That routine translated to football games that fall, when Wettstone and two other gymnasts shared mascot duties. Two-armed pushups after every point the Lions scored followed until the end of the 1968 season. Danny Kohlhepp ’69, ’71 MBA Bus—who had to quit the wrestling team because of a knee injury and became the mascot in 1967—attended a pep rally following Penn State’s 15-14 defeat of Kansas in the Orange Bowl. As part of the celebration, according to Kohlhepp, Pennsylvania governor Raymond Shafer told the crowd, “Let’s have the Lion do one-armed pushups.” Kohlhepp, who had performed one-armed pushups before but never as part of the routine, did 34, one for each career victory that head coach Joe Paterno had amassed. That carried over to the 1969 season, when David Lacey took over for Kohlhepp, and it has continued since. Tim Durant ’94 H&HD, who did 543 one-armed pushups when Penn State defeated Cincinnati 81-0 in 1991, holds the single-game record.

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