Women of the Wheel: Joan Weston

Womanica

Acast Creative Studios

History, Society & Culture, Education

4.3 • 920 Ratings

🗓️ 1 September 2025

⏱️ 6 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Joan Weston (1935-1996) was a California-born roller-derby athlete. She is most known for being one of the highest-paid female athlete in the 1960s, and by her nicknames: “The Blonde Bomber,” the “Golden Girl,” and “the Roller Derby Queen.”

For Further Reading:

This month, we're talking about Women of the Wheel – icons who turned motion into momentum and spun their legacies on spokes, skates and potter's wheels. These women harnessed the power of the axle, pushing their crafts and professions forward through their works and lives.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn't help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we'll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Sara Schleede, Paloma Moreno Jimenez, Luci Jones, Abbey Delk, Adrien Behn, Alyia Yates, Vanessa Handy, Melia Agudelo, and Joia Putnoi. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is an I-Heart podcast.
0:06.6	There's a vile sickness in Abbas town.
0:10.4	You must excise it.
0:12.8	Dig into the deep earth and cut it out.
0:16.7	From IHeart podcasts and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Manky,
0:20.0	this is Havoc Town. A new fiction podcast set in the Bridgewater Audio Universe, starring Jules State and Ray Wise.
0:29.1	Listen to Havoc Town on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
0:37.4	Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this is Womanica.
0:42.4	This month we're talking about women of the wheel, icons who turned motion into momentum
0:47.0	and spun their legacies on spokes, skates, and potter's wheels.
0:51.6	These women harness the power of the axle, pushing their crafts and professions
0:55.4	forward through their works and lives. The year is 1935, and 20,000 people have crowded
1:02.8	into an arena to watch pairs of skaters race around a flat track. It's the first roller derby game in Chicago.
1:13.6	The same year, in the Golden State of California, a roller derby star is born.
1:19.6	Please welcome Joan Weston.
1:23.6	Joan was largely raised by her maternal grandparents in Downey, California, after her parents
1:28.2	separated when she was very young.
1:30.9	Her grandparents heavily influenced her interests.
1:33.8	When Joan was seven or eight years old, her grandfather took away her dolls and bought
1:37.7	her a baseball and glove, a basketball, and a bicycle.
1:41.5	But Joan found roller derby herself.
1:44.1	While flipping through TV channels one day,
	...

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