Art Juedes and Rick Gering are entrepreneurs, business leaders, and lifelong best friends who built Eastbay, the athletic shoe and sporting goods mail-order company. They became a global reseller of sneakers and all things sports through the iconic Eastbay catalog, which reached millions around the world and helped spark today's thriving sneakerhead culture. Over two decades, Juedes and Gering grew the company, took it public, and eventually sold it to Foot Locker. From there it went on for two more successful decades. Juedes and Gering now split their time between Florida and Wisconsin, where they spend as much time as possible with their wives, children, and grandchildren.

Brandon Sneed is an author and journalist who writes for the New York Times and Sports Illustrated. His book Sooner was described by Kirkus Reviews as "elegantly written . . . vigorous and smart." In addition, it was labeled "the sports book of the year" by the Pulitzer Prize?winning author and journalist Don Van Natta Jr., of ESPN. Van Natta also described Sneed's book Head in the Game as "a thrilling manifesto."