Storytelling is a way to connect with others, and Paul Weissenstein ’85 hopes to connect with people far and wide through his book, The Pyramid Principle: A Battle-Tested Hall-of-Famer Discovers UCLA Coach John Wooden’s True Meaning of Success. The story is one of faith, family, hope, and the impactful life of John Vallely on pediatric cancer research.
Weissenstein and his sister, Lynn Weissenstein Wirtz ’90, grew up in Chicago. He had been studying business at Wake Forest University when he converted to Christianity. Weissenstein had always loved football, so when two Chicago Bears players were scheduled to speak at his local church, Lynn knew he had to attend. The players’ visit was a big part of Weissenstein’s conversion. “It made me understand more clearly what His calling on my life was, so I gave my life to Jesus,” he said.
Afterwards, Weissenstein dedicated his life to a career in ministry and transferred to Azusa Pacific University to major in theology with an emphasis in youth ministry and Christian education. At APU, Weissenstein was able to play football as a defensive back and foster meaningful relationships on campus, especially through chapel. “It was very important to have designated time for worship in the formative years of my life,” he said. “It’s about being among a group of strong believers who were on the same journey as I was.” Weissenstein is still in contact with some of his peers because of the deep connections they made while at APU.
After graduation, Weissenstein went into youth ministry but stayed connected to his old high school and its athletes. He wanted to help integrate faith into athletics and realized that he could make a powerful impact as a coach. He ended up working at Northwestern University as an assistant strength coach. “I always tried to inspire the athletes by leaving them encouraging notes, and I found out that I had great writing talent.”
While later working as a high school basketball coach, Weissenstein met a parent who was looking for a story about renowned UCLA basketball coach John Wooden to develop into a film. Wooden was a coach of deep Christian faith who inspired many. “People had tried to develop his story into a film, but in narrative structure it’s hard to create a story around the mentor,” Weissnetein said. He began to search for players who had a strong connection of faith and mentorship to Wooden and found John Vallely, a UCLA student athlete, All-American, and first round draft pick in the NBA who had prayed that God would use him and his family for His glory and benefit. “Vallely’s daughter, Erin, got a rare cancer at nine years old, so his journey to battle her cancer was built upon his mentorship from Wooden,” Weissenstein said. A few years after Erin’s passing, Vallely found out that he had Hodgkins Lymphoma, but his life was saved by a bone marrow stem cell transplant from a donor.
Since then, Vallely has worked with UCLA’s basketball team and the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation to host a Dribble for Victory Over Cancer fundraiser on campus. The campaign has saved an estimated 300,000 children’s lives from its impact on pediatric cancer research.
Weissenstein negotiated the rights to Vallely’s story and co-wrote a screenplay about him with a former vice president of Columbia Pictures. The screenplay is currently in pre-production development.
However, Weissenstein felt called to do more with Vallely's story.
Reconnecting with his APU roots inspired Weissenstein to spend four weeks writing. He even came back to APU’s campus a few times to worship God during those weeks.
Once finished, the draft was quickly picked up by faith publisher Spirit Media because they were so moved by Vallely's story and the impact the draft had as a sports leadership, marriage, and parenting book. “It is a heartwarming story that is challenging to read in places because of the subject matter, but the ending is hopeful,” Wirtz said. “Paul’s calling is to tell stories like this one.”
Weissenstein’s deep belief in God has allowed him to see how important faith in media is. “In some faith films, God is portrayed as a superhero who always saves the day, but in reality He doesn’t always answer our prayers in the ways we want, and you might not understand His plan until decades later,” he said. “Vallely’s story is a faith film for the next generation that is more true to the Biblical narrative that there is loss, trials, wandering, and tragedy in life, but you can still find God’s faithfulness on that journey. I am only just beginning to see God’s plan in my life through this book. From APU to sports, my journey led me to this story, and it’s amazing that I was able to finish it in the shadows of APU.”
Weissenstein’s hope is that all who read his book will find hope and grow in their faith. “Our goal is to help 400,000 pediatric cancer patients and their families, and I want them to find hope, belief, and strength to continue on in their battles,” he said. “I think that those kids will find God and Heaven through this book, so to lift up this story is to lift up a chance for pediatric cancer patients to find hope and salvation.” Weissenstein prays that APU will continue to be the light on the hill that it was for him when he was a student and when he came back to write Vallely’s story. “It’s a great institution, and I know that God is being glorified there just as in Ephesians 3 it says that He is doing powerful work within us and will continue to accomplish more than we could ever dream about.”