Characters
Choose the character you will play.
Looking for another play with a similar theme? Share the classic tale The Emperor’s New Clothes for another example of how a character learned a lesson about overcoming embarrassment.
Art by Patrick Faricy
Play,
Wrong Way, Roy!
Roy Riegels was the star of his football team. But in the biggest game of the year, he made a huge mistake. Would this mistake ruin his life?
By Karen Trott and Sari Bodi | Art by Patrick Faricy
From the December 2022/January 2023 Issue
Learning Objective: Students will identify the theme, or lesson, of the play.
Complexity Factors
Guided Reading Level: M
DRA Level: 20-24
Featured Skill:
Theme,
Other Key Skills: theme, vocabulary, character, plot, sequencing, how a character changes, interpreting text, connecting to the text, explanatory writing
Standards
Narrators 1, 2 (N1, N2)
Roy Riegels
Friends 1, 2
Students 1, 2
Group, to be read by the whole class
Benny Lom
Announcers 1, 2 (A1, A2)
Coach Price
Teammate
Scene 1
Georgia Tech Sports Blog-AJC.com
A park in California, 1918
N1: A group of 10-year-olds is playing tag.
N2: Their classmate Roy Riegels joins them.
Roy: Anyone want to play some football?
Friend 1: How do we play?
Roy: You throw the ball to your teammates. Whoever catches it runs to their team’s end of the field. If you score, it’s called a touchdown.
Friend 2: What do the rest of us do?
Roy: You try to tackle players from the other team to keep them from scoring.
Friend 1: OK, let’s play!
N1: Roy quickly scores.
Friend 2: This is really fun! And you’re good at it, Roy.
Roy: Thanks! I want to play in college.
Friend 1: Maybe one day you’ll even be famous.
Roy: I hope so. Let’s keep playing!
Scene 2
Art by Patrick Faricy
The University of California (UC), 1928
N2: Roy walks across a grassy field.
N1: He’s in his second year of school at UC.
Student 1: Look! It’s Roy Riegels, the star of the football team.
Group: Roy, Roy, he’s our man! If he can’t do it, no one can!
Roy (waving): Thanks for the team spirit!
N2: Roy’s teammate Benny Lom runs over.
Benny (grinning): Are you ready for the Rose Bowl?
Roy (high-fiving Benny): YES!
Student 2: Wait, what’s the Rose Bowl?
Roy: It’s the biggest game in college football.
Benny: The two best teams play every year on New Year’s Day.
Student 2: Wow! I wish I could be there.
Student 1: You can listen to the game on the radio. The announcers will describe what’s happening.
Roy: The whole country will be listening!
Group: Good luck, Roy!
Scene 3
Art by Patrick Faricy
Pasadena, California, 1929
A1: Welcome to the 1929 Rose Bowl!
A2: This year, the UC Golden Bears will face the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
Group: Go, Golden Bears!
N1: The game begins. Both teams play hard.
N2: But minutes before halftime, the score is still 0-0.
A1: A Georgia Tech player has the ball.
A2: Benny Lom from the Golden Bears tackles him to the ground!
A1: The ball slips out of the Georgia Tech player’s hands and onto the field.
A2: The ball is free!
A1: It’s picked up by Roy Riegels!
A2: He grabs it and starts running.
A1: Whoa! A Georgia Tech player tries to tackle Riegels.
A2: Riegels gets spun around, but he’s still on his feet.
A1: Riegels keeps running, but . . .
A2: He’s . . .
A1: He’s . . .
Group: . . . RUNNING THE WRONG WAY!
Benny (shouting): Roy, what are you doing?
Roy: I’m about to score a touchdown!
Benny: FOR THE OTHER TEAM!
Group: ROY, YOU’RE GOING THE WRONG WAY!
A2: I’ve never seen anything like this!
N1: Roy finally realizes what’s happening. He slows down.
A1: The Yellow Jackets tackle Riegels.
A2: They get the ball and . . . score!
A1: That’s the end of the first half of the game.
N2: Head down, Roy shuffles back to the locker room.
Roy: What have I done?
Courtesy of Cal Athletics (inset); AP Images
A Famous Mistake
Roy Riegels was the star of the UC Golden Bears. He famously ran the wrong way at the 1929 Rose Bowl.
Scene 4
Art by Patrick Faricy
The Golden Bears’ locker room, halftime
N1: Roy slumps onto a bench, his head in his hands.
Roy: I wish I could jump into a deep hole and stay there forever!
N2: Coach Price gathers the team around him.
Coach: There’s still another half to play. We’ll go back out and try again. You too, Roy.
Teammate: Roy can’t keep playing!
N1: Roy slumps even lower in his seat.
Coach: He sure can.
Teammate: Didn’t you see what he did?
Coach: He made a mistake. Anyone could have done it.
Roy: Coach, no. I embarrassed myself, my team, and my school. I’m a failure, and everyone knows it.
Coach: You’re only a failure if you give up.
Roy: But how can I face that crowd?
Coach: You can face them by playing an amazing second half!
N2: Roy shakes his head. He’s unsure.
Coach: I’m not saying it’ll be easy. I’m saying you can do it.
N1: As Roy joins his teammates on the field, the crowd boos.
N2: But not for long. Roy tackles, passes, and kicks with incredible power.
A2: What a game for Riegels! He’s on fire!
N1: The game ends. The Golden Bears lose, 8-7.
N2: But everyone agrees that Roy played an amazing second half.
Coach: Even though we didn’t win, we put up a great fight.
AP Images
Moving Forward
Riegels sits on the field with his head in his hands after running the wrong way (above). He later learned to move on from his mistake—and even joke about it!
Scene 5
The University of California, four months after the Rose Bowl
N1: The story of “Wrong Way” Riegels spreads across the country.
N2: For weeks, it’s all anyone talks about.
N1: And laughs about.
N2: Roy walks to class with Benny.
N1: A group of students sees Roy.
Student 1: Hey, look, it’s “Wrong Way” Riegels!
Student 2: I bet he’s totally lost!
Benny: Hey, knock it off.
Roy: It’s OK. It is kind of funny that I ran the wrong way.
N2: Roy turns to the students and smiles.
Roy: At least I’m not going the wrong way to class!
N1: Everyone laughs at Roy’s joke.
Benny: Wow, I’m surprised that you can laugh about this.
Roy: At first I was embarrassed. But I realized that one mistake isn’t the end of the world.
Epilogue
N2: Roy went on to become the captain of the UC football team.
N1: After college, he became a high school football coach.
N2: He later made it into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame.
Benny: Roy moved past his mistake.
Coach: And he has some advice for you.
Roy: Everyone messes up sometimes. But if I can move on from my mistake, so can you!
Think and Write
Imagine you are Roy Riegels. Write a letter to a friend about what you learned after running the wrong way at the Rose Bowl.
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Can't Miss Teaching Extras
Are your students interested in more sports history? Introduce them to our May/June 2017 play, When Girls Ruled Baseball, or our October/November 2021 paired texts, “Soccer and Basketball.”
Fun Fact: Years after his big mistake, Roy Riegels appeared on a game show, in which people tried to guess his embarrassing secret. He laughed along with the audience when his secret was revealed!
Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
Table of Contents
4. Differentiate and Customize
Striving Readers, Multilingual Learners, Advanced Readers
1. Preparing to Read
Set a Purpose for Reading/Preview Text Features
- Look at pages 24-25 with the class. Tell students that this play is based on a true story but that some events and characters have been made up.
- Instruct students to study the title, subtitle, and illustration on pages 24-25. Ask them to describe the illustration and predict what the play will be about.
- Call on volunteers to read aloud the Think and Read box on page 24 and the Think and Write box on page 29.
Introduce Vocabulary
- The play does not include definitions of vocabulary words with the text, but a Vocabulary Skill Builder online previews six challenging words (embarrassed, shuffles, slumps, spirit, and tackle). You may also play our Vocabulary Slideshow.
2. Close Reading
- Storyworks 3 plays provide a perfect opportunity for students to build fluency.
- Remind students that the stage directions tell a reader or actor how to say a line or perform an action in the play. Point out the word waving in column 2 on page 26. Read the dialogue aloud with appropriate expressions or actions.
- Project or assign the Close-Reading and Critical-Thinking Questions. (Alternatively, assign all or part of the Learning Journey Slide Deck.)
Close-Reading Questions
- Read Scene 1. What do you learn about Roy Riegels in this scene? (character) You learn that when Roy Riegels was 10 years old, he was already a good football player. He wanted to play football in college one day and hoped to become famous.
- Read Scene 2. What exciting news does Roy find out from his teammate Benny Lom? (plot) Benny Lom tells Roy that their football team will play in the Rose Bowl against the team from Georgia Tech.
- Read Scene 3. What happens after Roy picks up the football from the field and starts running? (sequencing) He runs in the wrong direction. When he realizes his mistake and slows down, the Yellow Jackets grab the ball and score a touchdown.
- Read Scene 4. How do Roy’s feelings about playing with his team change in this scene? (how a character changes) At first Roy is so ashamed and embarrassed by his mistake that he refuses to keep playing in the second half. After Coach Price encourages him, he decides to join his teammates on the field.
- Why does Coach Price tell Roy, “You’re only a failure if you give up”? (interpreting text, theme) Coach Price wants to encourage Roy to keep playing. He doesn’t consider Roy a failure and wants him to believe in himself again.
- Read Scene 5. How does Roy react when other students call him “Wrong Way” Riegels? (character, theme) Roy sees the humor in his mistake and can joke about it. He understands that one mistake isn’t a big deal.
- Read the Epilogue. What did Roy’s achievements show about how his mistake affected his life? (theme) Roy’s achievements show that he was able to move past his mistake. He believed that everyone makes mistakes. If he could move on from his mistake, anyone could.
Critical-Thinking Question
- What is the most important idea you learned about making mistakes by reading about Roy’s life? Use details from the play and text features in your answer. (theme, connecting to the text) Answers may vary, but students should include details from the play and the text features.
Class Discussion: Learning to Laugh
- This play demonstrates the power of laughing at mistakes. It can take a lot of courage and humility to embrace a mistake without feeling embarrassed about it. Over time, even Roy Riegels was able to learn to find the humor in his mistake. Ask students to think of a time they made a mistake. What did they do, and what happened as a result? Were they able to accept that everyone makes mistakes and learn from theirs? Encourage them to find ways to laugh about mistakes, just like Roy Riegels did.
3. Skill Building and Writing
Featured Skill: Theme
- Distribute or digitally assign the Theme Skill Builder.
- Ask students to write a response to the Think and Write prompt on page 29.
Differentiate and Customize
For Striving Readers
To help striving readers understand the plot, play the audio read-aloud as students follow along in their magazines. Pause at the end of each scene to discuss what happened, and together write a one- or two-sentence summary. When students read the articles online in Presentation View, they can use the highlighter tool to mark the text.
For Multilingual Learners
American football might be an unfamiliar sport to some of your multilingual learners. Review the “Football Through Time” sidebar with them and go over the basic premise of the game. Ask them to compare American football with a sport they might be more familiar with. Then read the play together or listen to the audio read-aloud.
For Advanced Readers
Have students work in pairs to write an interview with Roy Riegels. Ask students to come up with three to five questions for Roy and then create answers based on what he might say. Have each pair share their interviews with the rest of the class, with one student performing as the interviewer and one student performing as Roy.
Text-to-Speech