Minutes after seeking refuge from the cold and snow in the Hintz Family Alumni Center on Friday, students and alumni continued to feel the chill as they filled their bowls with free Berkey Creamery ice cream.

Students and alumni mingled with Homecoming Parade Grand Marshal Valerie Plame Wilson, Honorary Grand Marshal Rick Bryant, members of the 1948 Cotton Bowl team, the Nittany Lion mascot and members of the Penn State Alumni Blue Band.

"We're gonna have a heck of a Homecoming," Roger Williams, executive director of the Penn State Alumni Association, told the crowd. "We're Penn State, and we soldier on."

Wilson, Bryant and members of the 1947 football team spoke at the event. Attendees heaped their bowls with ice cream, waffle cone bowls and toppings as they talked and sang along with the band members.

"I love seeing the cheerleaders," Wilson said during the event. "My college boyfriend was a cheerleader, which my husband still makes fun of all the time."

Andrew Jackson, a float judge for the parade and a drummer in the Alumni Blue Band, said he was most excited to see the Cotton Bowl football team of 1948 -- especially halfback Wally Triplett.

He said the catchphrase "We Are ... Penn State" was born when the team showed its solidarity by refusing to play in the Cotton Bowl without the team's two black players.

"We're Penn State -- you can't tell us what to do," he said. "People don't like to talk about [race], but even back then, people respected each other."

Organizations gained spirit points for attending the social, said Brittany Barker (senior-mathematics), a member of the Penn State Association for Women in Science.

Bob Gill, Class of 1964, said he has attended every Homecoming game since 1978.

"I've got to find the guy in charge of the weather," he said. "He's on my list."