Monday, February 2, 2004
Toilet Bowl ends in a tie
Article by:
Casey Toner - Staff Reporter
• ctoner@northernstar.info
The Army tied the Air Force in the 2004 “Toilet Bowl,” which
was played on the east end of Huskie Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Since 1969, the Toilet Bowl, played prior to the Super Bowl on Super
Bowl Sunday, is the annual football game between members from the NIU
Veterans Club. The Air Force and Army typically compete against the
Marines and Navy.
Both teams receive a white toilet bowl signed with black and red permanent
markers with scores from previous years.
Previous scores filled the toilet-seat trophy to the point where senior
music education major and Army veteran Jennifer Webster said she is
considering purchasing a new one.
This year’s game was different than in past years. Veterans of
the Air Force played the Army because only one Navy veteran showed up
for the event.
One Army veteran, sophomore business administration major Bill Frederickson,
said he preferred playing football in the chilling snow to playing football
in what he said he considered “the sands of hell” — the
135-degree temperatures of Iraq. Frederickson served six months in Iraq
before being relieved in early August.
Playing on snowy, frozen ground roughly 42 yards in length and 30 yards
in width, the two teams battled without turning over the ball once.
The Air Force took an injury break when Tony Marrero, a communication
health-health administration major, went down with a bleeding nose.
He was running down field when he took the ball in the face, said Darin
Lilly, an Air Force teammate and senior business management major.
The teams tied, ending the game at 35-35.
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