ALUMNI PROFILE
A Well-Dressed Lion

Columbia's mascot had a new look when he raced onto the Levien Gym court at halftime of the men's basketball game against Yale on February 12-a new Lion's suit, courtesy of Bob Berne '60.

"It first came up at Homecoming," said Berne, who proudly wore the Lion's suit for four years as an undergraduate and one year as a graduate student and posed with the Lion in his new suit at the Yale game. "I was standing with Nancy Rupp and she mentioned that the Lion needed a new suit, so I told her I'd get him one. When he came over, I took off my nametag right there and gave it to him."

The suit, which is designed to communicate what assistant director of athletics Al Langer called a "fierce but friendly" attitude, was made by the same company that produced mascot uniforms for the NBA's Phoenix Suns Gorilla and Utah Jazz Bear, among many others. It features a more expressive face, functional black gloves and a secure tail-the latter solving one of the Lion's most vexing problems, having to pin his tail onto his suit at each event.