It was a long, long, cold, cold day - but a day full of pride for the Hampton University Marching Force.

For the first time since HU's founding during Reconstruction in 1868, the historically black school's band marched in a presidential inaugural parade. The significance of the day, when the nation's first African American president took office, was lost on none of the 175 young musicians.

"This is something I never thought I'd live to see," said Vincent Crenshaw, a senior from Winston-Salem, N.C., and the band's drum major.

It wasn't exactly a walk in the park.

The band left Hampton early Tuesday, then braved Washington's frigid cold for hours - even longer than expected. The start of the parade was delayed by about 90 minutes. Some attributed the delay to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's collapse at a congressional luncheon with the president, but no one knew for sure the reason for the wait.

While they waited to step out, the band - noted for its big, brassy sound and elaborate routines - delighted the nearby crowd with an impromptu concert.

For Kenneth Lewis, a senior from Chesapeake's Deep Creek High School and section leader of the band's drum line, this was his last big gig - the culmination of years of hard work through high school and college. As the band passed the White House reviewing stand, he caught President Barack Obama's eye, and the president pointed at him.

"That made it all worthwhile," Lewis said. "What a way to go out!"

The HU band was one of just three Virginia units chosen for the parade from among nearly 1,400 applicants. The other two were the Virginia Military Institute Corps of Cadets and the T.C. Williams High School Army JROTC from Alexandria.

By the time the Marching Force made it to the end of the parade, it was past dark and the crowd lining Pennsylvania Avenue was starting to drift away. But the band members, chilled to the bone, still were blasting the Kool & the Gang rocker "Celebration" en route to the buses waiting to take them back to Hampton.

"It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience," said Richard Hart, a junior trumpet player from Willingboro, N.J. "It was cold, but it was worth it in the end."

As the band neared the waiting buses, under a streetlight, a lone spectator stood on the sidewalk waving a homemade sign invoking the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.:

"MLK is smiling today."