The Boys of Riverside: A Deaf Football Team and a Quest for Glory

“It was a dream journey and a window into Deaf Culture, a term that many deaf people capitalize because it encompasses an entire class of people and their way of life. I was honored that the players, coaches, and administrators at the school trusted me—someone with little prior knowledge about deafness—to tell their story.”

Although Fuller is not an active participant in the story, his existing lens as a hearing person influences his expectations for the team and its players. In this passage, the fact that Fuller capitalizes Deaf Culture (and cites his reasons why) suggests that he deeply respects the Deaf educators and athletes he encounters.

“The pandemic set back millions of students across America, but for deaf children it was especially hard. Many lived in homes or neighborhoods where no one spoke their language. School was the place they found peers, they learned to advocate for themselves, they came out of their shelves.”

The importance of Deaf communities represents a key focus in Fuller’s book. This passage details the unique challenges faced by Deaf communities during the Covid-19 pandemic, in particular the loss of daily access to other Deaf people. Fuller emphasizes the negative impact the loss of this community had on the students of California School for the Deaf, Riverside.

“Like the Cubs, the Braves considered themselves underdogs. Sometimes when Noli played away games in remote areas, the announcers would refer to them as the Indians, not the Braves, an error that rankled the team.”

Fuller positions his viral article about the CSDR Cubs as the inspiration for The Boys of Riverside. This passage highlights the ways in which implicit social bias such as racism and ableism contributed to prejudicial views of the Cubs and several of their opponents. In this instance, the racism faced by the Noli Indian School Braves defines them underdogs in the eyes of their competition.