For that performance in the 1980s, all the instruments except for the brasses and a few drums were lined up along the side of the pool. The brass players were in the pool, a few drums were floated on kickboards and the student conductor sat on an inner-tube.

At the end of their final piece, the student conductor raised his hands in the air and dropped through the middle of his tube. The horns slowly slid underwater, the final note gurgling away.

When the band emerged from the water, an oily slick of valve lubricant coated the surface of the water.

Harvard crushed Indiana State in the meet, and the Indiana team protested the outcome. They claimed that the oil had impaired their swimmers' performance. The victory stood, and the band has been land-locked ever since.

Through the ups and downs of Harvard athletics, the band's presence remains a tradition at games.

"We play our hearts out for a small crowd a lot of weeks. We put a lot into in, but [the band] gives it all back," Nicklaus says. "The band is family. The people in the band I'm going to see for the rest of my life. It's a great support system."

After all of its antics and hours of planning and practice, the band prides its 80-year legacy of friendship and musical excellence as much as its performances.

"The band of the 70s was different from the band of today, and the band of today is different from the band of the 40s and 50s," Everett says. "But wherever the band is playing, you can be sure they're playing Harvard songs with lots of camaraderie and spirit."