The national championship Nike hats that members of the Nittany Lion football team wore at the conclusion of the Rose Bowl will probably never be seen again. But that has not discouraged Penn State fans from cleaning out local stores carrying merchandise celebrating the past season.

Local stores have benefited from selling Penn State memorabilia marking the Lions' undefeated season and Rose Bowl victory, in addition to other shirts calling for a No. 1 ranking.

"Any Time, Any Place," screams one of the T-shirts sold by the Student Book Store, 330 E. College Ave. The slogan is accompanied by the helmets for Penn State and Nebraska. The store has several shirts for sale, including one with the top ten reasons Penn State should be No. 1 -- the words "Undefeated Season" rank as number one.

But the shirts are quickly becoming scarce.

"They've sold very well," said Norm Brown, Student Book Store manager. "Our first run sold out. We ordered more over the weekend and we'll have them in this week."

Since Penn State was not recognized as the national champion by the NCAA, companies producing Penn State merchandise may not use the term "national champions" as a sole message, said Jean Barrett, Penn State licensing coordinator.

"If a licensee wants to have 'national champions' on their shirts, they have to do it as 'the people's national champions' or 'Pennsylvania's national champions,' " Barrett said.

Many stores had already picked out designs for national championship T-shirts and placed orders in the event Penn State topped the polls. John Myers, co-manager of Rapid Transit Sportswear, 115 S. Allen St., said his orders would have tripled if the Lions were awarded the national championship.

In most cases, the shirts would have been available within days after the Rose Bowl. But Rapid Transit was not the only store to prepare for a possible national title.

"We had a plan of attack handled from our corporate level," said Mike Goodhart, co-manager of Lions Pride, 112 E. College Ave. "They had plans in place for if things had happened the way they should have."

While most stores' sales of Penn State football merchandise have been high, there is no way to judge how much more would have been sold had the Lions been No. 1. Myers said a national championship would have carried sales over into next fall, when some fans return to town.

"I'm sure we lost something, but we'll still gain from the Rose Bowl championship and the undefeated season," Myers said. "There's a lot of pride in the area for what they've done this year. I think people realize that this season is special."

Shawn Cordes (junior-business logistics) already has a Rose Bowl program and is considering buying a hat. He feels that this season is important -- despite how the coaches and media have voted -- because of Penn State's football tradition. Cordes said that he wanted something to remember the season.

"This is the greatest offensive team ever put together. The polls have nothing to do with it," Cordes said.

Over the next week, students will have even more choices. SBS will be getting another shipment of T-shirts with new designs.

"We are going to have something to play off The New York Times poll where (the Lions) were No. 1," Brown said, "and we're gearing up for any parade or celebration that the University may have."