What began as a routine scuba dive turned into a historic moment for northwestern Pennsylvania.

In the summer of 1991, Lake Pleasant, a small glacial lake in Erie County, became the site of one of the region’s most remarkable paleontological discoveries. 

Local resident George Moon was diving in Lake Pleasant when he surfaced with a massive, fossilized bone nearly three feet long.

Unsure of its origin, Moon reached out to Gannon University anthropologist M. Jude Kirkpatrick.

The verdict: it was a woolly mammoth shoulder blade.

That single discovery sparked further dives, many of them supported by volunteers, which eventually uncovered approximately 80 percent of a woolly mammoth skeleton, including both tusks.

The specimen became known as the "Moon Mammoth" in honor of its finder.

It remains one of the most complete mammoth skeletons ever found in the Great Lakes region and now resides at the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg.

Woolly mammoths roamed the region during the Pleistocene Epoch, roughly 9,000 to 13,000 years ago. The Lake Pleasant mammoth find offers direct evidence that these Ice Age giants once walked what is now northwestern Pennsylvania.

Despite the importance of the discovery, the Moon Mammoth story faded into local obscurity.

Few residents knew of it, and even the SeaWolves themselves were unaware of the connection, until it was rediscovered by researchers working with HBO's "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver."

And here we are now, complete with purple uniforms, a moon themed logo, and a new mascot, the rebrand turns a little known chapter of Erie history into a community celebration.

From lakebed, to museum, to minor league baseball mascot, the mammoth's journey is one of the longest ones in history. 

Note: The rebranding of the Erie Seawolves to the Moon Mammoths is not permanent, it is a temporary alternate identity.