Chap­ter 25: Play­ing a Deaf Leg­end cen­ters on the Cubs’ foot­ball team as they pre­pare for a chal­leng­ing game against the Indi­ana School for the Deaf, led by Coach Michael Paulone. At the age of six­ty-five, Paulone has built a respect­ed lega­cy with­in the deaf com­mu­ni­ty as a coach, hav­ing already led his team to an unde­feat­ed 4–0 record with only fifty play­ers on the ros­ter. Despite the pride of hav­ing such a record, Paulone faces a sig­nif­i­cant chal­lenge: his team’s tran­si­tion from tra­di­tion­al eleven-man foot­ball to the faster-paced, more demand­ing eight-man game used by River­side. This for­mat, unique to the Cubs, presents a chal­lenge that Paulone must pre­pare for, forc­ing him to rethink how his team will adapt to an entire­ly new style of play.

Paulone’s sto­ry is not just one of coach­ing but of per­son­al per­se­ver­ance against adver­si­ty. Born deaf, he faced ear­ly skep­ti­cism about his poten­tial in sports, espe­cial­ly when he took up the role of quar­ter­back. Despite the doubts of oth­ers, Paulone’s tenac­i­ty allowed him to excel, and his deter­mi­na­tion to suc­ceed in the face of bar­ri­ers became evi­dent. His use of sign lan­guage to com­mu­ni­cate plays with his coach from the Penn­syl­va­nia School for the Deaf is a per­fect exam­ple of his inno­v­a­tive approach to over­com­ing obsta­cles. This inno­va­tion helped Paulone rise from a back­up quar­ter­back to the start­ing posi­tion, earn­ing him MVP hon­ors dur­ing the Philadel­phia City All-Star Foot­ball Game. His lead­er­ship and unwa­ver­ing deter­mi­na­tion not only made him a hero to his team­mates but also intro­duced him to NFL leg­end Joe Namath, cement­ing his sta­tus as a pio­neer for deaf ath­letes.

The Cubs, as they pre­pare for the matchup against Indi­ana, face a tough but excit­ing chal­lenge, giv­en that their oppo­nents are led by a vet­er­an coach with a deep under­stand­ing of the game. Paulone, despite feel­ing the pres­sure of fac­ing the high­ly skilled River­side squad, attempts to ral­ly his team by empha­siz­ing the impor­tance of their phys­i­cal strength and uni­ty. How­ev­er, the Cubs’ over­whelm­ing tal­ent proved too much for Indi­ana. The final score of 62–18 reflect­ed not only the Cubs’ supe­ri­or­i­ty in terms of ath­leti­cism but also the prepa­ra­tion and ded­i­ca­tion that had led them to this point. The Cubs’ per­for­mance on the field, par­tic­u­lar­ly dur­ing a key touch­down play, served as a reminder that their com­bi­na­tion of skill and team­work was unmatched. Coach Paulone, in his post-game reflec­tion, was the first to admit that his team was no match for the Cubs, acknowl­edg­ing their over­all supe­ri­or­i­ty in every aspect of the game.

Fol­low­ing their vic­to­ry against Indi­ana, the Cubs were set to face Flori­da’s School for the Deaf and the Blind in the next matchup. Florida’s coach, ful­ly aware of the Cubs’ dom­i­nant per­for­mance, expressed his hope to at least score a point dur­ing the game. How­ev­er, the Cubs con­tin­ued their impres­sive run with anoth­er dom­i­nat­ing vic­to­ry, secur­ing a lop­sided 84–8 win. While this vic­to­ry fur­ther show­cased the Cubs’ excel­lence, it also sparked con­tro­ver­sy over the ethics of such a one-sided game. Crit­ics ques­tioned the sports­man­ship involved, par­tic­u­lar­ly giv­en the mar­gin of vic­to­ry. Despite the neg­a­tive atten­tion, Coach Adams main­tained his stance that a deci­sive vic­to­ry was nec­es­sary for the Cubs, as it helped build momen­tum for the team. The Cubs, with their con­sis­tent wins and sec­ond-place rank­ing in Cal­i­for­nia for var­si­ty teams, proved their dom­i­nance in the state. Through every win, the Cubs’ per­se­ver­ance and com­mit­ment to each oth­er and their goal was clear­ly vis­i­ble, not only as ath­letes but as a unit. The chap­ter encap­su­lat­ed their remark­able jour­ney, which not only pushed their ath­let­ic abil­i­ties but also their emo­tion­al growth and sense of uni­ty.