For years people told us that we should write a book, which was a nice thought in between sets at the gym. When we sat down to actually do it, we realized writing a book isn’t so easy. With any task in business, sports, or life, it takes a team to achieve success, and we wouldn’t be here today with a product we are extremely proud of without the help of many great people.
Linda Rush, Dennis Blue, Kathleen Torrell, Bob Gura, Bob Bolingbroke, Dick Kassar, Scott Morris, David Basto, Brian McInerney, Bill Armstrong, David Shladovsky, Bob Iritani, Larry Lewis, Paul Pressey, Gary Vitti, Kobe Bryant, Larry Brown, Derek McGee, Marilyn Tang, and Chris Paul all took time out of their busy days to help us remember a few key life moments and also to make sure that our facts were correct. Also, James Cox and Nina Moore gave early encouragement to our book efforts.
A special thanks to Byron’s dad, Robert Marsh, who not only walked us through Byron’s childhood for this book but paved the way for its success by raising Byron into the leader he is today.
Charlie’s family—Peggy, Emi, and Michael Norris—were helpful throughout the entire book-writing process (and every day of Charlie’s life). Michael deserves a special thank-you for helping to shape the direction of the book during its early stages. Friends Charlotte Jacobs, Lena Goldberg, and Pete Chiarelli read several drafts of the book.
Early supporters who helped get this creation off the ground include Todd Smith, who became our manager; Howard Hart, our attorney; and David Vigliano, our literary agent, who introduced us to our wonderful editor, Kate Hartson, executive editor of Center Street Books.
Along with Kate, the entire team at Center Street was by our side at every step in the editing, marketing, and production process leading to our book launch. Lending their expertise and guiding us to the finish line were Rolf Zettersten, publisher; Patsy Jones, VP, marketing and publicity; Laini Brown, senior publicist; Billy Clark, VP of sales; Gina Wynn, sales director, and the entire sales team; Andrea Glickson, marketing director; Anthony Goff, publisher of Hachette Audio; Sara Beth Haring, marketing assistant; and Grace Tweedy Johnson, editorial assistant.
We’d also like to thank our writer, Jon Warech, who understood our vision and voices and brought them to life. He would also like to thank the team at Hachette and Kirby Kim, Joy Warech, Zoë Levy, Erin and Brad Fox, Mikey Glazer, Melissa Rappaport, Robert Eth, and Jessica Contrastano.
Finally, we’d like to thank Earvin Johnson for not only lending his Magic touch to this book, but supporting us every single step of the way. Just like on the basketball court, with his assist we were able to really make this book a slam-dunk success.