Chris Navalta and Marco McCleod were teammates on the Hogan High School football team 30 years ago.

They are back together again, and there isn’t a football in sight.

McCleod is the co-owner of the Grind Cafe, which will host Navalta on Saturday from 11 a.m. to noon when he discusses his book from last summer, “Basketball Stars: Stories and Skills from the NBA’s and WNBA’s Best Players.”

The children’s book discusses basketball legends LeBron James, Michael Jordan and Lisa Leslie, superstars Caitlin Clark, A’Ja Wilson and Giannis Antetokounmpo, and role players Muggsy Bogues and Jeremy Lin.

“It’s still surreal to see the book on shelves,” Navalta told the Times-Herald on Friday. “I went to school with Marco and recently connected with him again at a 30-year reunion. I live in San Francisco now, but I still loving hearing about Marco’s business all the time and I want to support him. We talked about holding this event and hopefully it will generate even more foot traffic for him.”

Navalta said he will be signing his book as well as holding a Q&A session. Depending on how many people show up, he may do some readings from the book.

Navalta played football with McCleod, but after high school got more involved with basketball. He worked for the Times-Herald from 1995 to 2000 and also worked in public relations for the Sacramento Kings before working with NBA players like Adonal Foyle, Aaron Gordon and Bogues.

“I got into basketball more after high school, having beats covering the teams and it never really left,” Navalta said. “The sport is now year-round with the WNBA getting bigger. Gary Payton II had a summer camp and I was able to have people from that camp pick up the book. I also spoke with former players like Tim Hardaway, Gary Payton, Jerome Williams and Eric ‘Sleepy’ Floyd and they all seemed to like the book and the support hasn’t stopped. Last I looked it was No. 11 in Amazon’s children fitness and No. 51 for children’s sports books.”

Navalta said that the while the book covers icons like Jordan, Clark and James, it’s Bogues who draws the most questions from readers.

“I think kids are fascinated with his height, that he was just 5-foot-3 and was still able to have a solid career,” Navalta said. “He even had around blocked shots (39) in his career. So I think that gives kids hopes and they know that even if they don’t grow up to be seven feet tall or 6-foot-5 they can still pursue their dreams of playing professional basketball.”

Navalta’s book can be purchased on Saturday at the Grind Cafe, located at 402 Tuolumne St in Vallejo. It can also be purchased at Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com or at Penguin Books (www.penguin.com).