Women’s World Champion Trick Roper Joan Wells

The Good Samaritan Society – Auburn will host Joan Wells with Humanities Nebraska on February 28, 2017 at 2 p.m. in our Main Dining Room. Her presentation will be on the “History of Trick Roping on the Wild West Show”.
Joan Wells brings a unique entertainment and education experience to our community with her Trick and Fancy Roping. This type of Wild West performance art became a part of American Western Heritage about 150 years ago. When Vicente Oropeza introduced trick roping to Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show in 1894, he gave the American cowboy a different perspective on the art of roping. This presentation follows the development of trick roping through the heyday of Will Rogers and his affiliation with the wild west shows and the Ziegfield Follies. This is a fast-moving action-packed program which includes a slide presentation, narrative, music and 30 years of roping skills.
In 1979 Miss Wells won the title of Women’s World Champion Trick Roper in Claremore, Oklahoma when she set a record in the Women’s Free Lance and Texas Skip endurance competition by completing 187 Texas Slips. What’s a Texan Skip? Find about skips, loops, Hondas and a little girl’s dream, as Joan Wells guides the audience through a variety of techniques, maneuvers and her own adventure from Saturday morning westerns to Cowgirl Hall of Fame.
After the performance, Miss Wells will demonstrate specific tricks and invite the audience members to “learn the ropes” by trying some spinning tricks themselves.
The “History of Trick Roping on the Wild West Show” is one of approximately 300 programs offered through the Humanities Nebraska Speaker Bureau. The more than 165 available speakers include acclaimed scholars, writers, musicians, storytellers and folklorists on topics ranging from pioneer heritage to ethics and law to international and multicultural issues, making it the largest humanities speakers’ bureau in the nation.
Speakers are available to any non-profit organization in Nebraska. Each program lasts 30 minutes to an hour, plus a question and answer period.