24 Facts About Roy Riegels

Roy Riegels was an American college football center who played for the California Golden Bears from 1927 to 1929.

Roy Riegels' notability has been shared by motivational speakers who use his life as an example of overcoming setbacks.

Roy Riegels led the Golden Bears in conference minutes played that season, and he was voted onto the All-Coast team.

Roy Riegels was a good blocker, but his strength was playing "roving center" on defense, similar to the present-day middle linebacker position.

Midway through the second quarter, Roy Riegels, who played center on both offensive and defensive lines and who was then playing in a role similar to that of the modern defensive nose guard or nose tackle, picked up a fumble by Tech's Jack "Stumpy" Thomason.

Just 30 yards away from the Yellow Jackets' end zone, Roy Riegels was somehow turned around and ran 69 yards in the wrong direction.

Teammate and quarterback Benny Lom chased Roy Riegels, screaming at him to stop.

The referee called the ball down at the place where Roy Riegels had been stopped by his teammate.

Roy Riegels did return to play, and he turned in a stellar second half performance that included blocking a Georgia Tech punt.

In spite of the loss, the example of how the distraught Roy 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.

The opening sequence of the 1929 Frank Capra movie Flight is based on Roy Riegels and uses photographs of him.

In 2011, a picture book written by Dan Gutman was published with title "The Day Roy Riegels Ran the Wrong Way," which provides play-by-play description of this moment in sports history.

In later years, Roy Riegels said his blunder made him a better person.

In 1991, Roy Riegels was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame.

Roy Riegels was posthumously elected to Cal's Hall of Fame in 1998.

Roy Riegels was born to Max Jakob Andreas Roy Riegels and Beda Helena Nilsdotter.

Roy Riegels's father was from Denmark and his mother was from Sweden.

Roy Riegels had 2 sisters named Elsie and Dora and a brother named William.

Roy Riegels had four children: David, Richard, Alexa Richmond, and Helen Mackey.

Roy Riegels graduated from the University of California in 1931 with a degree in agriculture.

Roy Riegels became a teacher and coached football at California and at the high school and junior college levels where his players often ran the wrong way during practice.

Roy Riegels served as an officer in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II and later worked in the agriculture field and as a cannery executive.

In 1955, Riegels started his own agricultural chemicals dealership in Woodland, California, Roy Riegels Chemicals, earning plaudits for his contributions to California farming from the state legislature and governor.

Roy Riegels died in March 1993 in his sleep at his home at the age of 84 due to complications from Parkinson's disease.