What started as a massive love for sports, turned into a love for making sure that the sports were played right as a referee. Senior Brady Mar’s dad, Kevin Mar, has been a ref for a while for a few different conferences such as The Mountain West, The Big 12, and the Pac 12.
Kevin Mar’s collegiate career started as a line judge for the CFO West back in 2006 but was then moved to the referee position in 2015. Kevin is entering his 28th season officiating sports, and 16th season officiating Division 1 athletics. Kevin has been involved in a lot of major games including being a referee in 13 bowl games, the 2017 MWC championship game, and the 2008 FCS National Championship.
Kevin has had a long career full of unique opportunities, and great games. He has been a part of many referee groups and has had the opportunity to meet many cool people.
“I have really enjoyed my job over the last 28 years, and have had a lot of fun moments during these games,” Kevin Mar said. “The opportunities that have been offered to me through my job have been incredible, including the people that I have met, which range from new friends to NFL players and coaches.”
Kevin gets extra tickets to every game that he referees, so he typically brings some of his family. Sometimes the tickets let whoever uses them gain field access and go on the field pregame. This gives the ticket holder opportunities to meet players and coaches and feel what it feels like to be a player on the field. His son, Brady Mar, jumps at every opportunity he can to enjoy a game that he did is a referee at.
“Having my dad be an NCAA ref is really cool because I get to go to some of the games that he refs for free, including one of my favorite games I have ever been to, the Cheez-it bowl game between,” senior Brady Mar said. “I have had a lot of unique experiences like meeting players, coaches, and other famous people when I travel with my dad to his games.”
The Cheez-It bowl was a very highly anticipated game between LSU and Purdue and Brady found himself on the field for a good portion of the game and got to meet a lot of players. Brady has been to many games and sometimes takes some of his friends to the games so that they can enjoy these fun experiences with him. He has taken his friend Luke Wu to a few games with him and has been met with a lot of very unique experiences.
“I have been able to go to a few games with Brady and his dad, and it really is a very unique experience being able to go to these different colleges and watching all of these games,” Wu said. “In some of the games we got to go on the field which was very fun to see all that goes on behind the scenes and see how everything looks.”
Not only does Kevin referee collegiate sports, but he is also very active in Nebraska high school football officiating. He also has created the Nebraska High School replay Protocol for the state championships, as well as being the replay official for the football championships. While the football season is in the offseason he referees high school basketball games, as well as a baseball state tournament umpire. He is looking forward to being a referee in his 14th bowl game in college football and hopes to continue his career for a long time.
