
Paradise Found
A High School Football Team's Rise from the Ashes
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $24.29
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Malcolm Hillgartner
-
By:
-
Bill Plaschke
About this listen
"Friday Night Lights meets Unbroken." (Tony Reali)
"One of the most profound stories you will ever read." (Ian O'Connor)
"Plaschke delivers a masterpiece." (Jeff Pearlman)
From LA Times columnist and ESPN Around the Horn panelist Bill Plaschke, a story of tragedy, triumph, and the remarkable power of high school football in one small California town.
On November 8, 2018, the Camp Fire ravaged the town of Paradise, California. The fire, which burned up to 80 acres per minute, killed 86 people, and nearly every building and home in the town was reduced to ashes. In a single day, Paradise, a proud working-class town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, saw its population fall from 25,000 to 2,000.
The Paradise High football team had long been the town’s source of joy and inspiration. But in the wake of the fire, their season was abruptly cancelled on the eve of the playoffs. Their championship hopes were gone. Their program’s survival seemed doubtful - it wasn’t even clear whether Paradise High would continue to exist.
Coach Rick Prinz had planned to retire that year after guiding the Paradise High Bobcats for two decades. But after the fire forever altered his beloved town, he realized he couldn’t walk away. What ensued was the challenge of a lifetime. Of the 104 football players at Paradise, 95 had lost their homes. His varsity squad, which had stood 76 strong the previous season, was down to 22. Most of those who remained were homeless, sleep-deprived, lost. On the first day of spring practice, on a debris-ridden patch of grass at nearby Chico Airport, Prinz’s team didn’t even have a football. It was the humble beginning to a memorable journey.
Bill Plaschke, longtime columnist for the Los Angeles Times, followed the Paradise Bobcats throughout a most remarkable season. In this gripping, deeply reported story of tragedy and resilience, Plaschke reveals the unique power of sports to unite, to inspire, and to heal. As the Paradise players fought to rebuild their broken lives, they found strength in the support of their teammates - and as football returned to Paradise, so, too, did the spirit of the town itself.
©2021 Bill Plaschke (P)2021 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
-
Across the River
- Life, Death, and Football in an American City
- By: Kent Babb
- Narrated by: Ryan Vincent Anderson, Kent Babb
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the west bank of the Mississippi lies the New Orleans neighborhood of Algiers. Short on hope but big on dreams, its mostly poor and marginalized residents find joy on Friday nights when the Cougars of Edna Karr High School take the field. For years, this football program has brought glory to Algiers, winning three consecutive state championships and sending dozens of young men to college on football scholarships. Although he is preparing for a fourth title, Head Coach Brice Brown is focused on something else: keeping his players alive.
-
-
One man can make a difference…and does!!
- By Willike7 on 01-30-24
By: Kent Babb
-
Of Mice and Men
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Gary Sinise
- Length: 3 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Celebrating its 75th anniversary, John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men remains one of America's most widely read and beloved novels. Here is Steinbeck’s dramatic adaptation of his novel-as-play, which received the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play in 1937-1938 and has featured a number of actors who have played the iconic roles of George and Lennie on stage and film, including James Earl Jones, John Malkovich and Gary Sinise.
-
-
KETCHUP
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 01-11-17
By: John Steinbeck
-
The Other Wes Moore
- One Name, Two Fates
- By: Wes Moore, Tavis Smiley - afterword
- Narrated by: Wes Moore
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In December 2000, the Baltimore Sun ran a small piece about Wes Moore, a local student who had just received a Rhodes Scholarship. The same paper also ran a series of articles about four young men who had allegedly killed a police officer in a spectacularly botched armed robbery. The police were still hunting for two of the suspects who had gone on the lam, a pair of brothers. One was named Wes Moore.
-
-
Insightful lesson in self-determination
- By Aneesah on 02-04-13
By: Wes Moore, and others
-
The Mosquito Bowl
- A Game of Life and Death in World War II
- By: Buzz Bissinger
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, college football was at the height of its popularity. As the nation geared up for total war, one branch of the service dominated the aspirations of college football stars: the United States Marine Corps. Which is why, on Christmas Eve of 1944, when the 4th and 29th Marine regiments found themselves in the middle of the Pacific Ocean training for what would be the bloodiest battle of the war – the invasion of Okinawa—their ranks included one of the greatest pools of football talent ever assembled.
-
-
War Story Interrupted Briefly by a Football Game
- By William G. Stuart on 10-14-22
By: Buzz Bissinger
-
Down the Great Unknown
- John Wesley Powell's 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon
- By: Edward Dolnick
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On May 24, 1869 a one-armed Civil War veteran, John Wesley Powell, and a ragtag band of nine mountain men embarked on the last great quest in the American West. The Grand Canyon, not explored before, was as mysterious as Atlantis - and as perilous. The 10 men set out from Green River Station, Wyoming Territory, down the Colorado in four wooden rowboats. Ninety-nine days later, six half-starved wretches came ashore near Callville, Arizona.
-
-
Modern references take away
- By HC-2 NAS Norfolk '92 on 08-17-19
By: Edward Dolnick
-
The Last Folk Hero
- The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson
- By: Jeff Pearlman
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 22 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the mid-1980s into the early 1990s, the greatest athlete of all time streaked across American sports and popular culture. Stadiums struggled to contain him. Clocks failed to capture his speed. His strength was legendary. His power unmatched. Video game makers turned him into an invincible character—and they were dead-on. He climbed (and walked across) walls, splintered baseball bats over his knee, turned oncoming tacklers into ground meat.
-
-
If you are a sports fan and over 35 years old, you have to listen/read this. Awesome!
- By betty sammons on 06-29-23
By: Jeff Pearlman
-
Across the River
- Life, Death, and Football in an American City
- By: Kent Babb
- Narrated by: Ryan Vincent Anderson, Kent Babb
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the west bank of the Mississippi lies the New Orleans neighborhood of Algiers. Short on hope but big on dreams, its mostly poor and marginalized residents find joy on Friday nights when the Cougars of Edna Karr High School take the field. For years, this football program has brought glory to Algiers, winning three consecutive state championships and sending dozens of young men to college on football scholarships. Although he is preparing for a fourth title, Head Coach Brice Brown is focused on something else: keeping his players alive.
-
-
One man can make a difference…and does!!
- By Willike7 on 01-30-24
By: Kent Babb
-
Of Mice and Men
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Gary Sinise
- Length: 3 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Celebrating its 75th anniversary, John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men remains one of America's most widely read and beloved novels. Here is Steinbeck’s dramatic adaptation of his novel-as-play, which received the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play in 1937-1938 and has featured a number of actors who have played the iconic roles of George and Lennie on stage and film, including James Earl Jones, John Malkovich and Gary Sinise.
-
-
KETCHUP
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 01-11-17
By: John Steinbeck
-
The Other Wes Moore
- One Name, Two Fates
- By: Wes Moore, Tavis Smiley - afterword
- Narrated by: Wes Moore
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In December 2000, the Baltimore Sun ran a small piece about Wes Moore, a local student who had just received a Rhodes Scholarship. The same paper also ran a series of articles about four young men who had allegedly killed a police officer in a spectacularly botched armed robbery. The police were still hunting for two of the suspects who had gone on the lam, a pair of brothers. One was named Wes Moore.
-
-
Insightful lesson in self-determination
- By Aneesah on 02-04-13
By: Wes Moore, and others
-
The Mosquito Bowl
- A Game of Life and Death in World War II
- By: Buzz Bissinger
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, college football was at the height of its popularity. As the nation geared up for total war, one branch of the service dominated the aspirations of college football stars: the United States Marine Corps. Which is why, on Christmas Eve of 1944, when the 4th and 29th Marine regiments found themselves in the middle of the Pacific Ocean training for what would be the bloodiest battle of the war – the invasion of Okinawa—their ranks included one of the greatest pools of football talent ever assembled.
-
-
War Story Interrupted Briefly by a Football Game
- By William G. Stuart on 10-14-22
By: Buzz Bissinger
-
Down the Great Unknown
- John Wesley Powell's 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon
- By: Edward Dolnick
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On May 24, 1869 a one-armed Civil War veteran, John Wesley Powell, and a ragtag band of nine mountain men embarked on the last great quest in the American West. The Grand Canyon, not explored before, was as mysterious as Atlantis - and as perilous. The 10 men set out from Green River Station, Wyoming Territory, down the Colorado in four wooden rowboats. Ninety-nine days later, six half-starved wretches came ashore near Callville, Arizona.
-
-
Modern references take away
- By HC-2 NAS Norfolk '92 on 08-17-19
By: Edward Dolnick
-
The Last Folk Hero
- The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson
- By: Jeff Pearlman
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 22 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the mid-1980s into the early 1990s, the greatest athlete of all time streaked across American sports and popular culture. Stadiums struggled to contain him. Clocks failed to capture his speed. His strength was legendary. His power unmatched. Video game makers turned him into an invincible character—and they were dead-on. He climbed (and walked across) walls, splintered baseball bats over his knee, turned oncoming tacklers into ground meat.
-
-
If you are a sports fan and over 35 years old, you have to listen/read this. Awesome!
- By betty sammons on 06-29-23
By: Jeff Pearlman
-
We Will Rise
- A True Story of Tragedy and Resurrection in the American Heartland
- By: Steve Beaven
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By 1977 the University of Evansville’s Purple Aces basketball team had won five small-college national championships. With a charismatic young coach and a freshman phenom, this small Indiana city hoped to see its team shine in the national spotlight. Then, on a foggy night, after just four games, the plane carrying the team and its coach crashed after takeoff, killing everyone on board.
-
-
An incredible “play-by-play” story of hope, despair, and perseverance.
- By Mary Beth C. on 02-22-24
By: Steve Beaven
-
Friday Night Lights
- A Town, a Team, and a Dream
- By: H. G. Bissinger
- Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte
- Length: 14 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The 25th anniversary edition of the number-one New York Times best seller and Sports Illustrated's best football book of all time, with a new afterword by the author. Return once again to the timeless account of the Permian Panthers of Odessa - the winningest high school football team in Texas history.
-
-
Keep This In Mind When You Listen
- By K. on 09-21-18
By: H. G. Bissinger
-
Swagger
- Super Bowls, Brass Balls, and Footballs - A Memoir
- By: Jimmy Johnson, Dave Hyde
- Narrated by: Chris Henry Coffey
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hall of Fame football coach Jimmy Johnson’s house isn’t on the way to anything. Yet, his private sanctuary on the Florida Keys’ Islamorada islands is a popular destination to which college and professional coaches, general managers, and team owners regularly trek to seek advice—how to build a positive team culture, draft elite players, balance work and family life, and lead a team to win. Why? Because Jimmy Johnson has done it all. Now, written with sports journalist Dave Hyde, Johnson shares a candid account of his life experiences that have turned him into a legend in the coaching world.
-
-
AMAZING AND NECESSARY READ FOR FOOTBALL FANS EVERYWHERE
- By elaine clancy on 01-24-23
By: Jimmy Johnson, and others
-
Slenderman
- Online Obsession, Mental Illness, and the Violent Crime of Two Midwestern Girls
- By: Kathleen Hale
- Narrated by: Therese Plummer
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On May 31, 2014, in the Milwaukee suburb of Waukesha, Wisconsin, two 12-year-old girls attempted to stab their classmate to death. Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier’s violence was extreme, but what seemed even more frightening was that they committed their crime under the influence of a figure born by the internet: the so-called “Slenderman”. Yet the even more urgent aspect of the story, that the children involved suffered from undiagnosed mental illnesses, often went overlooked in coverage of the case.
-
-
Excellent narration
- By Pink Amy on 08-21-22
By: Kathleen Hale
-
The Devil Is Here in These Hills
- West Virginia’s Coal Miners and Their Battle for Freedom
- By: James Green
- Narrated by: Joel Richards
- Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From before the dawn of the 20th century until the arrival of the New Deal, one of the most protracted and deadly labor struggles in American history was waged in West Virginia. On one side were powerful corporations whose millions bought armed guards and political influence. On the other side were 50,000 mine workers, the nation's largest labor union, and the legendary "miners' angel", Mother Jones.
-
-
Phenomenal labor history, riveting narrative
- By Chris Brooks on 03-11-18
By: James Green
-
Martyball!
- The Life and Triumphs of Marty Schottenheimer, the Coach Who Really Did Win It All
- By: Marty Schottenheimer, Jeffrey Flanagan
- Narrated by: Carl Randolph
- Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No coach in National Football League history endured more playoff heartache than Marty Schottenheimer. Despite racking up two hundred regular-season victories (only five coaches in the entire ninety-year history of the NFL ever won more games), Marty never reached the Super Bowl during his coaching career. Martyball tells the story of a man who persevered through an avalanche of misfortune and playoff agony that would have brought most men to their knees. But Marty never lost sight of why he fell in love with coaching in the first place: he wanted to teach and mold men through the game of football.
-
-
Worst Narration Ever?
- By Livia Prano on 02-28-25
By: Marty Schottenheimer, and others
-
Playmakers
- How the NFL Really Works (and Doesn't)
- By: Mike Florio
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In recent decades, the NFL has simultaneously become an athletic, financial, and cultural powerhouse—and a League that can’t seem to go more than a few weeks without a scandal. Whether it’s about domestic violence, performance-enhancing drugs, racism, or head trauma, the NFL always seems to be in some kind of trouble. Yet no matter the drama, the TV networks keep showing games, the revenue keeps rising, and the viewers keep tuning in.
-
-
Disappointed.
- By S Werley on 03-22-22
By: Mike Florio
-
Madden
- A Biography
- By: Bryan Burwell
- Narrated by: Mark Moseley
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Several years after his playing career was cut short by injury before it had a chance to really begin, John Madden was hired as an assistant coach by the Oakland Raiders, one of professional football's most iconoclastic franchises. Two years later he was named the team's head coach and proceeded to lead the Raiders to five championship games in his first seven seasons. Following years of heartbreaking losses in some of history's most memorable games.
-
-
Essential For Raider And Madden Fans
- By MovieGuy on 03-08-16
By: Bryan Burwell
-
Coach K
- The Rise and Reign of Mike Krzyzewski
- By: Ian O'Connor
- Narrated by: Kiff Vandenheuvel
- Length: 16 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mike Krzyzewski, known worldwide as “Coach K,” is a five-time national champion at Duke, the NCAA's all-time leader in victories with nearly 1,200, and the first man to lead Team USA to three Olympic basketball gold medals. Through unprecedented access to Krzyzewski’s best friends, closest advisers, fiercest adversaries, and generations of his players and assistants, three-time New York Times bestselling author Ian O’Connor takes you behind the Blue Devil curtain with a penetrating examination of the great, but flawed leader as he closes out his iconic career.
-
-
Jon “Shayer”?
- By Lawdevil on 03-02-22
By: Ian O'Connor
-
Sooley
- A Novel
- By: John Grisham
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the summer of his 17th year, Samuel Sooleymon gets the chance of a lifetime: a trip to the United States with his South Sudanese teammates to play in a showcase basketball tournament. He has never been away from home, nor has he ever been on an airplane. The opportunity to be scouted by dozens of college coaches is a dream come true.
-
-
Wow! Just wow!
- By Amazon Customer on 04-28-21
By: John Grisham
-
Tuff Juice
- My Journey from the Streets to the NBA
- By: Caron Butler, Steve Springer, Kobe Bryant - foreword
- Narrated by: David Sadzin
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two-time All-Star and 13-year NBA veteran Caron Butler has an impressive basketball record. He was Big East Co-Player of the Year at UConn, the 10th overall pick of the 2002 NBA Draft and a key player for the Dallas Mavericks in their championship-winning season in 2011. But before Butler had a chance to prove himself on the court, he spent his time trying to prove himself on the streets, as a gang member and drug dealer in his hometown of Racine, Wisconsin. He saw friends gunned down in the bloody street wars near his home....
-
-
Excellent
- By Amazon Customer on 10-08-23
By: Caron Butler, and others
-
Inseparable
- How Family and Sacrifice Forged a Path to the NFL
- By: Shaquem Griffin, Shaquill Griffin, Mark Schlabach
- Narrated by: James Shippy, Marc Samuel
- Length: 5 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Inseparable, much more than a sports memoir, Shaquem and Shaquill Griffin share the previously untold details of the powerful and inspiring story behind the modern NFL’s first one-handed player and his twin brother’s unrelenting devotion, sacrifice, and love. It’s the story of Shaquem’s understanding of God’s purpose for his life - to inspire others to stop being afraid and to stop making excuses - and his family’s unwavering support in spite of seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
-
-
Inspiring
- By Alex Hostetler on 10-25-19
By: Shaquem Griffin, and others
Amazing Story
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The story grabs you and sucks you in and is such an inspirational read for anyone in teaching, coaching, a student or parents. The sacrifices those kids made to go to the top, the coaches, who led them there, and the personal losses they encountered are things movies are made of.
It was our Yellowjackets that the Bobcats played their first game against and I know it was a soul stirring, gut wrenching and proud moment for all of us.
Read it and give it as a gift. The most inspirational read in a very long time. You won’t regret it.
Something every player and coach should read
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
What that community went through was horrific and heart wrenching….
Inspiring and Sad
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
amazing strength
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I have family and dear friends that lost their homes. My childhood home that I was raised in, and family lived in for 44 years, was lost. Thankfully we had sold the home 4 years before the fire, when my 84 year old mom passed, or I would have been worried sick about her making it down the mountain safely along with the brave people of Paradise. My brother made did make it out safely.
I grew up happy, strong, and blessed in the unique culture of Paradise. In 2019, I listened to those football games from my home in Utah. Principal Ervin's wife is a friend and she kept us updated us through social media. I felt the Bobcat Pride and loved every minute of it. Thank you for ride, for the inspiration you all gave us, the dedication you showed to each other, and to the town of Paradise. Most of all thank you for being men through all the adversity. God bless you all!
Inspiring
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.