After officiating NIU’s 41-5 homecoming victory against Toledo Saturday, three Big Ten referees were surprised to discover their cars had been towed during the game.

Cars belonging to referee Gil Marchman, umpire Bob Pickens and field judge George Solomon were towed Saturday during the game between NIU and Toledo. A car rented by a Toledo radio station and Toledo’s athletic directors also was towed. All the cars were parked in lined spaces near the north end of the stadium.

NIU head coach Jerry Pettibone said the officials were supposed to park against the fence surrounding the track.

“There was an officer who was on the gate,” Pettibone said. “It was the first time she had been there because of all the security used in the tailgate area. She had a list of people and the referees were on it.

“She didn’t know exactly where they were supposed to park. The people who would’ve known were out of pocket.”

Pettibone said Dave Clark, who was in charge of game management, was not in the area at the time and men’s Athletic Director Robert Brigham was at a meal with the NIU Hall of Fame inductees.

Clark said Tuesday he could not comment because he was not involved until after the fact and all questions should be directed to Brigham. Brigham was out of town and unavailable for comment.

Marchman and Pickens said they were unhappy when they found their cars were gone, but were able to look back and laugh at the incident.

“I was very upset at the time because it was cold and my jacket was in the car,” Marchman said. “The frustrating thing was no one knew where the cars were. One lady from the accounting office told us the university didn’t have a towing contract. Also, we stopped one campus policeman and he was listening to our story and then said he didn’t have the time and took off.”

Pickens, who owns a BMW, said, “The situation could have been avoided if there were signs saying, ‘No parking on game days.'”

When Pettibone was done with his postgame press conference he was told of the situation and went to see if everything was being handled OK.

“He was very apologetic,” Marchman said. “I was able to joke with him and I said, ‘What was this, the alternative plan in case you lost.’ He laughed and everything turned out all right.”

Marchman said the cars were located and the officials were taken to a “fenced-in maintenance lot across from the water tower southwest of the stadium.”

Public Safety Director Jim Elliott said he had heard of some cars being towed Saturday, but said he did not know whose they were.

“We have a public safety factor behind the stadium,” Elliott said. “There’s too many people walking around for cars to be everywhere. As I understand it there was a tow truck at the expense of the athletic department.”

Gene Calhoun, supervisor of Big Ten officials, said to his knowledge this situation has never happened.

“It’s essential that officials have parking near the stadium to get all their equipment in,” Calhoun said. “We’ve had no problems at NIU in the past. Most of the officials have been there before and I’m sure they know where to park unless NIU changed its policy.”