California
How California School of the Deaf, Riverside became a football dynasty
![How California School of the Deaf, Riverside became a football dynasty How California School of the Deaf, Riverside became a football dynasty](https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/RPE-L-FB-CSDR-1119-11-1.jpg?w=1024&h=683)
Thomas Fuller remembers being intrigued by an email from the California Department of Education announcing that the football team for California School of the Deaf, Riverside would be heading to the playoffs.
After an undefeated season.
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In fact, the reporter, then San Francisco Bureau Chief for the New York Times, was so intrigued that he hit the road for a seven-hour trek from the Bay Area to the Inland Empire.
“It was really breathless. I showed up just a couple hours before the game started and met with some of the players,” Fuller recalls. “They must have thought that I was a little bonkers, because I just walked into the room where they were hanging out before the game and I said, ‘I love this story.’”
Throughout his career, Fuller has been more likely to cover political turmoil and natural disasters than sports. But he does like football.
“I’m a lifelong fan of the New York Jets, so I know something about being an underdog,” he says.
And he knows a good story: The Cubs of California School of the Deaf, Riverside had one.
In fact, Fuller’s article about that 2021 game went viral. Television stations picked up on the story. Gov. Newsom included a budget proposal to build the school a new stadium. Disney came calling to bring the story to the screen.
“Then I felt a responsibility because I was seeing the coverage, which I wasn’t sure I really liked,” says Fuller. “I also didn’t know how they would be portrayed in a movie.”
So the reporter, who spent most of his career covering international stories, embedded himself with the team and began work on a book. “The Boys of Riverside: A Deaf Football Team and a Quest for Glory” arrived in stores on August 6.
Fuller followed the team throughout its championship-winning 2022 season. (The team repeated the feat in 2023, beating Canoga Park’s Faith Baptist in the CIF championship for their division for the second year in a row.)
But football is only part of the story Fuller tells. Really, “Boys of Riverside” is a book about deaf community and culture, as well as about language and communication.
“I was very much new to the deaf world, to deaf culture,” says Fuller. “It’s not something that I have in my family. It’s not something that I had been immersed in before doing this.”
That Fuller was an outsider at the school helped him understand one of the book’s central questions about deafness. As he says, “Is it a handicap or is it just a language barrier?”
Fuller has a knack for languages. He also speaks French and Thai and has picked up other languages while working as a foreign correspondent. While he did start to learn American Sign Language in the course of his reporting, he relied on an interpreter, Melika Angoorani, throughout the project.
“I quickly understood that, if I wanted to do this with the utmost accuracy, I was going to need to see this world through the lens of experts and expert interpreters,” he explains, “because I couldn’t afford to have any misinterpretation of what I was seeing.”
Fuller hung around so many practices that he would joke about the two-tone tan he developed. “My face was tan on one side of my head because I stood on the sidelines of the practices every day with the setting sun to my left,” he says. He also attended the team’s meetings and nearly all of the games. He spent hours interviewing every player on the team. During his stay in Riverside, Fuller lived with deaf roommates.
Come game time, he would watch on the side of the opposing team. “I wanted to talk to them,” he says. “I would get their impressions of the game, but I wanted to hear them and how they were reacting to the deaf team.”
“When it came to be game time, I had to be very poker-faced,” says Fuller. “But inside of me, there was no way to not want to cheer for the Cubs.”
Reading “The Boys of Riverside,” you might find yourself cheering not just for the Cubs, but for the whole community surrounding California School of the Deaf, Riverside.
“The most rewarding thing about working at CSDR is being able to communicate effectively with every student and staff here, and seeing the students blossom over the years with intelligible conversations and speeches, after they first enrolled with minimal or no language,” says Erika Thompson, the school’s outreach specialist, in an email interview.
And through its football program, the school’s name is reaching more people.
“We are the first deaf high school to win two straight playoff sections in national. Our deaf community really supports our football and many deaf people show up for the game,” says Coach Keith Adams in an email interview.
Referring to the team’s story and how it affects people, Adams adds: “I am sure it inspires them because all of us face our own challenges so they can see someone who overcomes difficulties can help their hopes and motivation to keep striving towards their own goals.”
Originally Published:
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California
Work underway to eliminate offensive street names in Northern California as deadline looms
![Work underway to eliminate offensive street names in Northern California as deadline looms Work underway to eliminate offensive street names in Northern California as deadline looms](https://assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2024/08/06/c2bdfc4b-2646-42ec-bbbd-ce62db1ec688/thumbnail/1200x630/889d344214e23d9c7f718fc939395bad/snapshot-18.jpg?v=33116e4d892fab6878b5c06299369826)
SACRAMENTO – From changing offensive names on streets to revising lessons taught at historical sites, work is underway to acknowledge past mistreatment of Native Americans.
Tribal members from across California are participating in this year’s celebration of Native American culture at the state capitol and there’s been a lot of efforts recently to re-examine the treatment of Native Americans.
“The history that’s been written up to this point has been written without the voice of California’s first people,” San Bernadino democratic assemblymember John Ramos said.
Ramos authored a law requiring the name Squaw to be removed from all geographical places in California.
West Sacramento, Woodland, Citrus Heights, Sacramento, Placer, and El Dorado counties all currently have streets with this term and this week is the deadline to submit proposed name changes to the state.
“It was a derogatory name to Native American women. That’s what the settlers and the gold rush people only called us,” said Terisa Yonemura, a tribal member.
Other efforts are being made to honor Native American culture:
- There is now a monument in Capitol Park.
- The names of some schools have been changed.
- Many government meetings now begin with a Native American land acknowledgment.
Sutter’s Fort is also changing its interpretive plan, which now takes a closer look at the impact early pioneers had on indigenous people.
There’s also a push to change the name of the Sutter Buttes.
Tribal leaders say it’s important to honor the people who have lived on this land for centuries.
West Sacramento has already voted to rename its street Tebti. Sacramento County and Citrus Heights have not announced their new names yet.
California
LIVE: California wildfire burning down homes in San Bernardino County; Evacuations underway
![LIVE: California wildfire burning down homes in San Bernardino County; Evacuations underway LIVE: California wildfire burning down homes in San Bernardino County; Evacuations underway](https://images.foxtv.com/static.foxla.com/www.foxla.com/content/uploads/2024/08/1280/720/snapshot-5.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, Calif. – A massive fire is burning down homes in an Inland Empire neighborhood.
The San Bernardino County Fire responded to what was initially a vegetation fire in the Little Mountain Drive area on Monday afternoon.
SkyFOX was over the scene of what is being called the “Edgehill Fire” around 3 p.m. on August 5 as several homes were burning down.
As of 3 p.m., firefighters said the fire burned about five acres.
Massive fire burning down homes
A massive fire is burning down homes in San Bernardino County.
EVACUATION ORDERS
As of Monday, 3:45 p.m., residents in the following areas are being ordered to evacuate:
- South of Ridge Line Drive
- North of and to Edgehill Road
- West to Beverly Drive
- East to Circle Road
Marshall Elementary School at 3288 North G Street is open for those impacted by the fire.
Evacuation map for Edgehill Fire burning in San Bernardino County.
Officials did not give a number of homes in danger from the massive fire.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
This is a breaking news story. Stay with FOX 11 News for the latest.
California
Video shows plane crash on busy California golf course, slide across green into pro shop
![Video shows plane crash on busy California golf course, slide across green into pro shop Video shows plane crash on busy California golf course, slide across green into pro shop](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/authoring/authoring-images/2024/08/05/USAT/74672241007-plane-crash.jpg?auto=webp&crop=1279,719,x0,y0&format=pjpg&width=1200)
A pilot managed to walk away almost unscathed after video captured him crash a plane on a busy California golf course Sunday afternoon.
The frightening landing took place at Haggin Oaks Golf Course, about eight miles northeast of Sacramento, local and federal officials said.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson Rick Breitenfeldt told USA TODAY the single-engine Piper PA28 crashed about 1:15 p.m. local time on the course, just south of McClellan Airfield.
The Sacramento Fire Department responded to the scene and crews found the plane “that emergency landed on the golf course and came to rest up against the pro shop.”
Video captures chaotic landing: Watch
Video shows plane skidding across golf course during emergency landing
A small plane had to make an emergency landing at a golf course in Sacramento, California. The pilot sustained minor injuries.
Video shows plane hit ground, slide sideways across greens into pro shop
Wild footage obtained by USA TODAY shows the moment the plane hits the ground and slides sideways across a portion of the green and onto concrete.
The plane then slams into the side of the pro shop.
“The pilot had minor injuries and was able to walk away from this incident,” the fire department posted on X.
No one else was injured.
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Nearly 200 people were on the golf course when plane crashed
Haggin Oaks Golf Course Vice President of Retail and Marketing Ken Morton Jr. told USA TODAY there were roughly 200 people out on the golf course at the time the plane crashed.
As of Monday, a monetary damage estimate to the pro shop was not yet known, Morton said.
“We haven’t yet been able to get into the building and take a look at what the putting green rebuild will look like due to the plane needing to be refueled,” he said.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash, Breitenfeldt said.
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.
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