Roy Riegels Roy " Wrong Way " Riegels ( April 4 , 1908 – March 26 , 1993 ) played for the University of California , Berkeley football team from 1927 to 1929 . His wrong - way run in the 1929 Rose Bowl is often cited as the worst blunder in the history of college football . The game . On January 1 , 1929 , the Golden Bears faced the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena , California , USA . Midway through the second quarter , Riegels , who played center , picked up a fumble by Tech ' s Jack " Stumpy " Thomason . Just 30 yards away from the Yellow Jackets ' end zone , Riegels was somehow turned around and ran 65 yards in the wrong direction . Teammate and quarterback Benny Lom chased Riegels , screaming at him to stop . Known for his speed , Lom finally caught up with Riegels at California ' s 3 - yard line and tried to turn him around , but he was immediately hit by a wave of Tech players and tackled back to the 1 - yard line . The Bears chose to punt rather than risk a play so close to their own end zone , but Tech ' s Vance Maree blocked Lom ' s punt for a safety , giving Georgia Tech a 2 - 0 lead . Riegels was so distraught that he had to be talked into returning to the game for the second half . Riegels turned in a stellar second half performance , including blocking a Tech punt . Lom passed for a touchdown and kicked the extra point , but Tech would ultimately win the game — and their second national championship — by a final score of 8 - 7 . The example of how the distraught Riegels was persuaded to pick himself up , return to the field and play so hard during the second half is sometimes used by motivational speakers to illustrate overcoming setbacks . Aftermath . After the game , coach Nibs Price defended Riegels , saying " It was an accident that might have happened to anyone . " Price credits Riegels as the smartest player he ever coached . Riegels explained that he was hit during a pivot and wound up doing a U - turn , which faced him the opposite direction . Later , the NCAA football rules committee would pass a rule barring a player from advancing a recovered fumble once it hits the ground . Riegels would take his spot as captain during his senior year , earning All - America honors . Despite the nationwide mockery that followed , Riegels went on to live a normal life , serving in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II , coaching high school , and college football — including time at Cal — and running his own chemical company . He was even able to capitalize on his blunder , parodying the now - famous run in vaudeville acts . The opening sequence of the movie " Flight " , by Frank Capra , is based on Riegels and uses photographs of him . In 1991 , Riegels was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame . Riegels died in 1993 , at the age of 84 . In 1998 , he was posthumously elected to Cal ' s Hall of Fame . In 2003 , a panel from the College Football Hall of Fame and CBS Sports chose Riegels ' " Wrong way run in the Rose Bowl " one of six " Most Memorable Moments of the Century . " In an NFL game in 1964 between the Minnesota Vikings and the San Francisco 49ers , Minnesota defensive end Jim Marshall ran a recovered fumble into his own end zone ( resulting in a safety , but the Vikings won the game , 27 - 22 ) . Riegels reportedly later sent Marshall a letter reading " Welcome to the club " .