"From Shoeshine to Star Wars: The Chronicles of Walt Jourdan is a compelling memoir that chronicles the life of father and son as they overcome obstacles and face the challenges that only a migrant trying to create meaning in life in the US can face...[it] is both engaging and inspirational, a story I'd love to see on screen. Five Stars." Christian Sia for Readers' Favorite
"Walt and Lee Jourdan have created something special. The voice of the book resides in Walt's voice-similar to Jake Lamotta's "Raging Bull" and Louie Armstrong's autobiography. Five Stars" Paul Croshaw, Writer/Director.
Little Walt is a nine-year-old Colored boy in 1937 Oakland, California. The Great Depression is in full swing, offering little opportunity for Little Walt to do more than shine shoes and sell magazines to help his family make ends meet.
Big Walt, his father, quit school after eighth grade, but applied his resourcefulness to own and operate several businesses, including a boarding house, barber shop, cab company, gas station, a baseball team, a used car lot, and an illegal gambling house.
Little Walt had to use his own resourcefulness to break the mold, and he went on to achieve success on the gridiron, as a sailor in the Korean War, and in a society bent on maintaining a culture of subservience for African Americans.
But it was not to be a smooth upward trajectory for Little Walt. He struggled to maintain focus after family tragedies, and faced many obstacles, both cultural and personal, as he endeavored to raise a family - ultimately ending in a place no one could have predicted when he lugged his shoeshine box ten miles a day as a nine-year old boy.
Forewords by Randall Cunningham, NFL MVP, and Susan Toler Carr, daughter of the first Black NFL official.
About the Author: It was April of 2011; I was boarding a plane from Jakarta, Indonesia for a two-hour flight to Singapore, where I would have a four hour layover before boarding my flight to Los Angeles, and then on to Las Vegas. Las Vegas is where my 84-year old father, Walt Jourdan, lay in a hospital bed. Earlier that day I had spoken to my older brother, Skip, who informed me that dad was not strong enough to withstand the surgery required to halt the progress of the cancer cells that were ravaging his body. Dad had lymphoma. Without the surgery the doctors gave him five or six days to live. Hence, my trip. Dad's prayer Warriors were in full throat. Dad was an active member of the Remnant Ministries Church, where Randall Cunningham, the former NFL MVP was pastor. He was an active member of the North Las Vegas Rotary club, and he was an active member of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. Dad was also a popular resident, at the Acacia Springs retirement community- because he was still a good dancer and gentlemanly with the ladies. Dad had hundreds of friends. I know they were all praying for him, and I know that God heard our prayers, because by the time I arrived in Singapore, and called Skip to check on dad's status, he told me that he had gained enough strength for the doctors to risk the surgery, and the prognosis was good. So five years later, with dad still going strong, my wife Diane suggested that I help him write that memoir he had been talking about. I thought back to that flight to Singapore, and how everyday was a blessing. I had better get started. Diane knew I had written a children's book twenty years ago, but that was before there was cost effective self-publishing, so it sat idle. And she knew that I had written a screenplay that still sits in my desk drawer at home. So she knew I had the bug. I am an engineer, and a former US Army Captain (West Point, Class of 1978), which would indicate that I am more of a planner, and calculator than a writer. But I also have a few years in the theater under my belt, so the arts in my heart. Over the course of a year we talked regularly over the phone, and I recorded his stories, and them crafted them in to the pages to tell his life story Dad is the real engineer - with contributions in aerospace and national defense. He is a stickler for accuracy, and has a keen memory. But don't take him for being calculating and dry. He is a rascal, an athlete, a leader, a fighter...my dad. But first- he was a shoeshine boy.
