Mason Reber grew up watching Penn State football with his family in Beaver Stadium, and believed the Nittany Lion mascot was the best part of those games.
“I thought he was a superhero,” Reber said.
Never in his wildest dreams, did Reber envision he’d someday fit inside that iconic lion costume while summoning thunderous cheers from the more than 100,000 gameday fans in Happy Valley.
He couldn’t imagine that he’d be the mascot running up and down the sidelines to energize Beaver Stadium, leading the crowd to chant “We Are!” in unison and igniting them with his one-armed pushups after every touchdown.
Reber, a 2021 Schuylkill Haven graduate and Penn State senior, has spent the last three years as the Nittany Lion — the 54th person ever chosen for that cherished role.
Since being selected as the PSU mascot in 2023 he has performed at more than 300 athletic, school and community events yearly on campus and at arenas across the country, doing it all while majoring in civil engineering and serving as an ROTC cadet.
The Nittany Lion’s identity is traditionally keep a tight secret, especially to the 46,000 students on the school’s main campus. Reber remained anonymous, telling only his family and closest friends.
“I’ve felt like Batman, not being able to tell people my secret identity,” the 22-year-old said. “It’s been a tough secret to keep. But it helps keep the magic alive, especially for the kids.”
Reber finally stopped concealing himself on Nov. 22 when Penn State played its Senior Day football game against Nebraska, his final performance in Beaver Stadium.
Senior mascots remove their masks for the first time at their final home game, so the sold-out stadium and television audience at last got to see his face, learn his name, and hear his voice, the entire reveal a thrill Reber will never forget.
Everything looked so clear and colorful to Reber once he was able to see it all without mesh screens covering the mask’s eyeholes and obscuring his view.
“That was the first time I’d seen it that way since I was a kid,” he said.
‘Once in a lifetime opportunity’
Reber, of South Manheim Township, qualified for a full Penn State scholarship in exchange for serving as the mascot, but had already earned a scholarship for serving in the ROTC, where he’s reached the rank of Second Lieutenant.
He graduates from Penn State in December, and is now seeking an engineering job while waiting to learn where the Army Reserve will assign him for his part-time training.
Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi said in a press release that Reber has embodied pride, service and connection as the Nittany Lion.
“We often say that the Nittany Lion mascot is a ‘symbol of our best,’ and Mason lives that spirit through his dedication to academic achievement, personal leadership, ROTC service and dedication to our community,” she wrote.
As he reflects on his Nittany Lion tenure, Reber thinks back to his childhood when he attended those Penn State games with his parents, Kevin and Becky Reber, along with other family and friends.
“There are pictures of me as a baby with Nittany Lion gear on,” he said. “It’s all come full circle for me.”
On Fridays in the fall he, would play in his own football games, then sleep in the family’s motorhome parked in their driveway. He’d wake up those Saturday mornings, walk out of the RV and find himself in the Beaver Stadium parking lot, where the pregame tailgate party would already be underway.
He was a captain on the Schuylkill Haven High School football team, but knew that playing for Penn State was beyond his reach. Once he reached college, his family continued to attend PSU games with Reber. At one of them, Becky was struck by how cool the Nittany Lion mascot was.
“You could be the mascot,” she told Reber, but he disagreed, saying that his schedule was already busy enough.
Then came an introductory picnic for ROTC, where Reber watched wide-eyed as the mascot rappelled off of the side of the ROTC building in full costume. Reber learned that the mascot was also an ROTC student.
“I was blown away,” Reber said. “I was in awe of what he did.”
Reber was attracted by the idea of performing at games, serving Penn State, and giving back to the community, so he tried out for the position. He competed against other applicants in a process that involved showing off his dance moves, performing a skit, and demonstrating his spontaneity.
During the ceremony in which it was announced that he’d been chosen, his parents got to watch a livestream of it, and he was just as stunned as they were.
“If you were to tell me in high school that I’d be the Penn State Nittany Lion mascot, I simply would not have believed it,” Reber said. “It felt like I was having an out-of-body experience.”
Reber got started as the lion in spring of 2023, and learned quickly what type of fitness level the job required. His first week alone he was traveling from state to state to perform at men’s and women’s basketball games, running and dancing and pumping up the crowds throughout those contests.
“I knew I needed to whip myself into shape,” he said. “It’s very physically demanding.”
Reber also knew that his life had taken a 180-degree turn, he said.
“I thought ‘what did I get myself into?’ But I also knew this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
Reber’s first home football game, played at night against West Virginia, drove that point home.
When he ran out to the 50 yard line to hype the fans — a process that Penn State calls “crowd control” — he grew so excited that he was crying under his mask.
“I was a complete mess,” he said. “I had snot coming out of my nose. It was amazing.”
‘A grueling schedule’
Most universities have numerous students splitting mascot duties each season. For instance, there are a bunch of Brutus Buckeyes at Ohio State, and a crew that shares Sparty duties at Michigan State.
But Penn State has only one mascot. Being the Nittany Lion is a solo act, which Reber likes.
“It’s cooler being the only one,” he said.
It also brings a lot more responsibility.
Reber appears at all of the home and away football games, and at times performs for all of the school’s athletic programs, along with appearing at many other events each year.
Last football season, for instance, when Penn State made a run in the College Football Playoffs, Reber’s regular and postseason trips took him to California, Arizona, Florida, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Indiana for football alone.
Crowd interest in his performances varies by sport, he said. At volleyball and hockey games, the fans loved him, he said. But wrestling fans wanted to watch the matches more than his skits.
“They were screaming ‘down in front,’” he laughed. “They don’t want people in their way.”
Among the most fun events for Reber were Penn State’s “White Out” football games, which are played at night and nationally televised with the stadium flooded with fans wearing white shirts.
“Those are absolutely insane,” he said. “I may be biased, but I think Penn State has the best college football atmosphere in the country.”
Becky and Kevin are amazed by how their son has somehow juggled academics, ROTC and mascot duties, excelling in all of them.
“It’s a grueling schedule,” Becky said.
Supporting Reber has been the Lion Troop Team, a group of students and staff that help him rehearse, plan his calendar, make props, choreograph his skits, plan his music, and fine tune his performances.
They also help clean and store the Nittany Lion suit after games, which wasn’t always the case.
During his first year as mascot, Reber had to surreptitiously take the costume back to his apartment after each appearance, and was also responsible for its upkeep.
He had to experiment to find the best products to clean the lion head, which is actually a football helmet covered with a fuzzy mask. The suit he took to a public laundromat near campus, putting it through a washing machine cycle before sneaking it back to his apartment to air dry.
Fortunately, no one ever noticed his secret alter ego costume, he said.
Though Reber quickly got adept at running around and dancing with the suit on, the costume did present its challenges.
When early season games were hot he’d sweat off pounds inside that fur, he said. During breaks he tried to stay hydrated, hiding in stadium corners to remove his head and chug water before heading back out.
During the frigid home playoff game versus SMU last December, when the wind chill temperature barely broke 10 degrees, he was thankful for that fur.
“I was the only one there at the perfect temperature,” he said.
‘Such a blessing’
Among the highlights for Reber the last three years has been seeing the thrill that he brought to kids, he said.
“Most of them love me,” he said. “But some of them are utterly terrified.”
For those that were scared he would calm his movements, approaching them gently, and that usually worked.
“When I gained their trust enough to give me a high five, that was a win for me,” he said.
His favorite experience with a young fan came during the Senior Day ceremonies.
For three years his godson, Abram Reber, now 7, had been one of the Nittany Lion’s biggest fans. Abram enjoyed interacting with him at games, never realizing that the man in the costume was the godfather he loves.
“It was like playing Santa Claus,” Reber said.
Abram was down on the field when Reber revealed who he was, and quickly ran to hug him, the sweet moment caught on a video that his family will cherish.
Reber’s run as mascot wraps up in January after the national college cheerleading championships that he and Penn State will take part in. But he’ll forever remain part of the unofficial Nittany Lion alumni group, the members of which were a big help to him during his tenure, he said.
Reber is also thankful to his family for their support along the way.
“It’s all been such a blessing,” he said.
His parents agreed.
“It’s been a fascinating journey,” Becky said.
She also attended Penn State, but had to drop out for financial reasons, and never got to live her dream of becoming a cheerleader there.
“Mason has kind of fulfilled my dream for me, but a gazillion times better,” she said. “His commitment to being the Nittany Lion has been unbelievable.”
The toughest part for Kevin was keeping the secret of who his son was portraying, he said. He struggled to limit sharing that information only with close friends he knew he could trust not to spread the word online. Otherwise those friends would have found out after Reber’s graduation that he’d been the Nittany Lion all along, and would not have gotten to appreciate his performances, Kevin said.
“I was just so proud of Mason that I had to tell them,” he said.
Kevin said often when he attended Penn State games while Mason was young, he thought how special it would be to have his son run out of the tunnel as a player.
“But I could have never imagined this, that he’d be the mascot, and become such a big part of Penn State history,” he said. “It’s been a heckuva ride, that’s for sure.”
Source: Berkshire mont
Be First to Comment