1929 Rose Bowl The 1929 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game and the 15th annual Rose Bowl Game . The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets defeated the California Golden Bears by a score of 8 - 7 . The game was notable for a play by California All - American Roy Riegels in which he scooped up a Georgia Tech fumble and ran towards his own goal line . The two - point safety on the ensuing punt proved to be the margin of victory . Riegels ' teammate Benny Lom , who attempted to tackle Riegels on the run , was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game when the award was created in 1953 and selections were made retroactively . Teams . Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets . This was the first appearance for Georgia Tech in a post season bowl game . They had run through their regular season schedule . This included a 13 - 0 win over Notre Dame and a 20 - 6 win over Georgia in the Clean , Old - Fashioned Hate rivalry game . They were named national champion by two organizations . They were invited by the Tournament of Roses committee to play in the game . California Golden Bears . California was not the Pacific Coast Conference champion in 1928 . The 1928 USC Trojans , under coach Howard Jones , were the PCC champions , and also were named a national champion . They were undefeated with a 9 - 0 - 1 record . The lone blemish on the Trojans ' record came at Cal , who had tied USC 0 - 0 on October 20 . USC had defeated Notre Dame 27 - 14 , the only common opponent with Georgia Tech . The University of Southern California declined the bid to play in the Rose Bowl . California , the second place team with a 3 - 0 - 2 conference record appeared instead to represent the Pacific Coast Conference . After tying USC , Cal had lost to the Olympic Club " Winged Os " . The Bears beat Oregon , Washington and Nevada . They tied Stanford 13 - 13 in the 1928 Big Game . The Stanford Indians had appeared in the 1928 Rose Bowl where they defeated Pittsburgh 7 - 6 , having been selected controversially over USC the year before . The game . On January 1 , 1929 , the Golden Bears faced the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena , California . Midway through the second quarter , Cal ' s Roy 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 . Lom passed for a touchdown and kicked the extra point , and Riegels blocked a Tech punt in the second half , but Tech would win the game — and their second national championship — by a final score of 8 - 7 . 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 . Riegels was inducted into the Rose Bowl hall of Fame in 1991 . The character of " Lefty " Phelps in the 1929 movie " Flight " , by Frank Capra , is based on Riegels and uses the incident to propel Phelps into the Marine Corps . The opening sequence uses photographs of him during the run . Benny Lom was named Most Valuable player of the game retroactively when the award was instituted in 1953 . Riegels used his experience to encourage others who had made similar plays . In 1957 , Paramount High School ' s Jan Bandringa had intercepted a pass only to run it 55 yards into his own end zone , resulting in a safety for Centennial High , who won the game 9 - 7 . In a regular season game in 1964 , Jim Marshall of the Minnesota Vikings also ran a recovered fumble into his own end zone . Both received word of encouragement from Riegels . In 1971 , Tech ' s entire 1928 team was inducted into the Georgia Tech Hall of Fame . Roy Riegels and teammate Benny Lom attended as special guests . The Georgia Tech Letterman ' s Club presented Riegels and Lom with membership cards . 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 . "