The acknowl­edg­ments sec­tion of The Boys of River­side is a heart­felt expres­sion of grat­i­tude from the author to the many indi­vid­u­als and groups who con­tributed to the cre­ation of the book. This project was deeply shaped by the author’s immer­sive expe­ri­ence with­in the River­side foot­ball com­mu­ni­ty, and he takes the oppor­tu­ni­ty to thank all those who opened their lives to him. He extends his sin­cere appre­ci­a­tion to the play­ers, coach­es, and staff who allowed him to wit­ness their jour­neys first­hand, from prac­tices to high-stakes games. With­out their open­ness and will­ing­ness to share their sto­ries, this book would not have been pos­si­ble. Addi­tion­al­ly, the author acknowl­edges the behind-the-scenes con­tri­bu­tions of many women, par­tic­u­lar­ly those who are deaf, whose guid­ance, patience, and unwa­ver­ing sup­port played a sig­nif­i­cant role through­out the process. One such indi­vid­ual is Tere­sa Maxwell, a senior admin­is­tra­tor at the Cal­i­for­nia School for the Deaf, River­side (CSDR), who went above and beyond by offer­ing him a place to stay, allow­ing for a more pro­found and authen­tic con­nec­tion to the com­mu­ni­ty he was cov­er­ing.

Fur­ther grat­i­tude is extend­ed to the ded­i­cat­ed staff at CSDR, whose efforts in accom­mo­dat­ing the author’s work were instru­men­tal in shap­ing the nar­ra­tive of this book. He rec­og­nizes for­mer super­in­ten­dent Nan­cy Hli­bok Amann and ath­let­ics pro­gram head Lau­ra Edwards for their unwa­ver­ing sup­port in facil­i­tat­ing his access to the school’s pro­grams and ini­tia­tives. The author also express­es deep appre­ci­a­tion for Eri­ka Thomp­son, CSDR’s com­mu­ni­ca­tions head, who took the time to answer count­less ques­tions, ensur­ing the accu­ra­cy and depth of the book’s con­tent. Spe­cial recog­ni­tion is giv­en to Meli­ka Angoorani, the author’s Amer­i­can Sign Lan­guage (ASL) inter­preter, who played a cru­cial role in bridg­ing lan­guage and cul­tur­al gaps through­out the research and inter­view process. Along­side Meli­ka, sev­er­al oth­er inter­preters assist­ed in inter­views, ensur­ing that the voic­es of the stu­dents, coach­es, and staff were authen­ti­cal­ly rep­re­sent­ed. Their con­tri­bu­tions pro­vid­ed a deep­er under­stand­ing of the deaf expe­ri­ence, which was essen­tial in accu­rate­ly por­tray­ing the tri­umphs and chal­lenges faced by the River­side foot­ball team.

The author takes a moment to acknowl­edge his fam­i­ly, par­tic­u­lar­ly his wife, whose unwa­ver­ing encour­age­ment and patience were invalu­able through­out the demand­ing process of writ­ing this book. Bal­anc­ing the demands of exten­sive research, trav­el, and writ­ing often required sac­ri­fices, and he is espe­cial­ly grate­ful for her sup­port dur­ing long stretch­es away from home. Spe­cial thanks are extend­ed to The New York Times edi­tor, Julie Bloom, who pro­vid­ed indis­pens­able edi­to­r­i­al guid­ance and ensured the project main­tained its integri­ty and pur­pose. He also appre­ci­ates his col­leagues at The Times for cov­er­ing his respon­si­bil­i­ties while he focused on com­plet­ing this book, rec­og­niz­ing their team­work as an essen­tial part of the process. The con­tri­bu­tions of the author’s lit­er­ary agent, Jane Dys­tel, and Knopf Dou­ble­day edi­tor, Jason Kauf­man, are high­light­ed for their stead­fast belief in the project and their keen edi­to­r­i­al insights, which helped shape the final prod­uct. Their exper­tise and ded­i­ca­tion were instru­men­tal in refin­ing the man­u­script and bring­ing it to pub­li­ca­tion.

Beyond those direct­ly involved in the book’s pro­duc­tion, the author express­es deep appre­ci­a­tion to experts at Gal­laudet Uni­ver­si­ty and oth­er orga­ni­za­tions who pro­vid­ed valu­able insights into Deaf Cul­ture and edu­ca­tion. Their knowl­edge and per­spec­tives were cru­cial in pre­sent­ing an accu­rate and respect­ful por­tray­al of the com­mu­ni­ty at CSDR. Spe­cial thanks are also giv­en to pho­tog­ra­ph­er Eric Melz­er, whose abil­i­ty to cap­ture pow­er­ful, emo­tion­al moments added depth and authen­tic­i­ty to the book. His images brought the team’s jour­ney to life, com­ple­ment­ing the writ­ten nar­ra­tive and offer­ing read­ers a visu­al con­nec­tion to the sto­ry. Final­ly, the author acknowl­edges his par­ents, David and Isabelle, for instill­ing in him a pas­sion for sto­ry­telling and social jus­tice. He clos­es with immense grat­i­tude toward the broad­er deaf com­mu­ni­ty, whose warmth, resilience, and open­ness pro­found­ly impact­ed his under­stand­ing of their world. Their unex­pect­ed kind­ness, will­ing­ness to share their expe­ri­ences, and trust in him as a sto­ry­teller made this book pos­si­ble, leav­ing a last­ing impres­sion that will remain with him for years to come.