The Boys of River­side: A Deaf Foot­ball Team and a Quest for Glo­ry by Thomas Fuller In this inspir­ing work of nar­ra­tive non­fic­tion, New York Times jour­nal­ist Thomas Fuller chron­i­cles the remark­able rise of the foot­ball team at the Cal­i­for­nia School for the Deaf in River­side (CSDR) — a group of young ath­letes who defied odds, stereo­types, and a decades-long los­ing streak to chase cham­pi­onship glo­ry.

For 51 sea­sons, CSDR’s team had nev­er expe­ri­enced a win­ning sea­son. But under the lead­er­ship of Coach Kei­th Adams, a Deaf for­mer ath­lete, and with the help of a tight-knit com­mu­ni­ty, the team trans­formed into an unstop­pable force. In 2021 and 2022, they shocked the foot­ball world by going unde­feat­ed and earn­ing a place in the state play­offs.

Fuller fol­lows the play­ers’ per­son­al jour­neys — many of whom had strug­gled on hear­ing teams — as they found pride, uni­ty, and pow­er in their Deaf iden­ti­ty. The book also high­lights how Amer­i­can Sign Lan­guage became a strate­gic advan­tage on the field, allow­ing for seam­less, silent com­mu­ni­ca­tion in the heat of com­pe­ti­tion.

More than just a sports sto­ry, The Boys of River­side is a mov­ing tes­ta­ment to per­se­ver­ance, belong­ing, and the pow­er of com­mu­ni­ty. It cel­e­brates how a group of young men rede­fined what it means to win — not only for them­selves, but for the entire Deaf com­mu­ni­ty.