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Letter to the editor

He 'mushed' with $50K

A Durant High teacher wanted to be a millionaire, but didn't gamble.

By Catherine E. Shoichet Times Staff Writer
Published October 19, 2007

But there he is on the big screen. The same spiked hair, the same beaded necklace, the same smile.

The same guy who blurts out the answers first in family trivia faceoffs. The one who spent his summer studying a world atlas and rifling through his college astronomy notes - just in case.

Ryan Haczynski waited three hours in the hot July sun for a chance to audition for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. The show's producers tapped the 32-year-old Durant High School honors English teacher for an August taping of the show in New York.

Now dozens of family and friends have crammed into his parents' Wimauma living room to watch the show as it airs.

They cheer when the ominous theme music starts. They sigh when he says how much he loves his wife, Erin, on national TV. They laugh when host Meredith Vieira decides to call him "H" - a nickname frequently used by his students.

Ryan...you look so good!

He's playing to the audience.

This is awesome!

You should know that like the back of your hand.

On TV, Haczynski breezes through some questions, struggles with others. He polls the audience. He phones a friend. He answers the $50,000 question. And then, the tough one comes.

In 1925, dogsledders mushed nearly 700 miles along an Alaskan mailing route to deliver a serum that halted an outbreak of what disease?

Real-life Ryan smiles and shrugs. TV Ryan squirms.

"I'm trying to remember everything that Jack London said. He was always talking about this stuff," he says.

In the end, Haczynski decides not to risk it. He tells Vieira he isn't the gambling type and decides to walk away with a $50,000 prize. She tells him the answer was diphtheria.

For months, when family members and students asked him what he won, he told them he couldn't say.

Now the secret is out.

His stepmother squeals. Friends line up to shake his hand. His 4-year-old niece gives him a hug.

"Did you seem me on TV? I'm as famous as the Disney Channel people," he says. Then he hands her a $1 bill.

He says he and his wife plan to spend the prize money on credit card and car payments, savings and travel.

And next year? He hopes to audition for Jeopardy!

Catherine E. Shoichet can be reached at cshoichet@sptimes.com or 661-2454.

[Last modified October 18, 2007, 07:14:14]