Archival [announcer 1]: And across the ring… the pride of East Los Angeles, California… Seniiiiiiiiiiesaaaaaaa…. Estraaaadaaaaaaaaa!

Michael Garofalo (MG): Seniesa [sin-EE-sah] Estrada is one of the best boxers out there… 

Jasmyn Morris (JM): In fact, she holds the record for the fastest knockout in women’s boxing.

MG: Just 7 seconds into the first round,

Archival: BELL  

Seniesa lands a lightning quick flurry of punches…

Archival: PUNCHING

MG: and her opponent goes down… hard… 

Archival [announcer 2]: …2, 3, 4! It was lamb versus lion, it is over… one of the quickest knockouts… in women’s boxing history [fade out under host]

[MUSIC]

JM: Every athlete is always looking for an edge, something to make them just that little bit better than the other guys… a secret weapon… 

MG: And ever since she started boxing when she was just 8 years old… Seniesa’s secret weapon has been… her dad, Joe.

Joe Estrada: When you got your first win, I remember you lifting your hands up in the air.

Seniesa Estrada:  I jumped in the air!

Joe Estrada: You were surprised, like ‘yeah!`

Seniesa Estrada: [laughing ] 

JM: Seniesa was 17 when she brought her dad in to record with us in 2010… She was an amateur boxer, on the verge of turning pro. And her biggest supporter…. was her dad… who also happens to be her coach.

Joe Estrada: What are your favorite moments that we’ve been together?

Seniesa Estrada: Well, the best is, like, in the gym and stuff, and then the hardest is also in the gym, because that’s where we disagree the most.

Joe Estrada: Because you don’t listen. 

Seniesa Estrada: [laughing] No, but the best is in the gym every day.

[MUSIC]

MG: Athletes like Seniesa show up to games and matches….and do things most people can’t, like it’s magic. There’s no room on a scoreboard to show all the hard work it took to get there… or the people who supported them along the way. 

 

JM: The ones who drove them to practice… who bought them equipment… who reminded them not to give up… even when they didn’t believe in themselves. 

 

MG: This season is all about Game Changers… and In this episode, those people… often the people behind the scenes… get the spotlight. I’m Michael Garofalo.

 

JM: And I’m Jasmyn Morris. It’s the StoryCorps Podcast from NPR. 

MG: When he was younger, Joe Estrada used to box at his local community center…. It was never something he considered or even wanted for his daughter.

JM: But she had other ideas…

Seniesa Estrada (SE): I was watching a boxing fight one day with you and my brother. I mean, I don’t know too many eight year old girls that would look at a boxing fight and think it’s fun, but for some reason I did. (Laughs)

 

Joe Estrada (JE): Yeah, and she said, ’Hey dad, do girls box? And I’m like, ’Uh yes.’ A few minutes later, she says, ’Can I box?’ And I’m like, ’Sure baby, you can box.’ ’Alright, will you take me to the gym?’ I says, ’Yeah.’ A month went by.

 

SE: Maybe even like two months or more.

 

JE: And she just brings it up again. ’Hey dad, can you take me to the gym? You told me you were gonna take me to the gym.’ I remember you keep telling me over and over.

 

SE: I didn’t know how hard it was either. I just thought I was gonna go to a gym and get in the ring and fight, ‘cause that’s what I wanted to do.

 

JE: She went in the ring with this little boy and got hit in the stomach really hard. She looked at the little kid like, I’m gonna get you, and she just went right at him.

 

SE: I was just swinging.

 

JE: No technique in her punches.

 

SE: No technique. I was just swinging.

 

JE: She just wailed away and it was like, ’Wow, I just saw that.’ And it’s like, the coach said, ’Stop, stop.’ They stopped the fight. The little boy was crying, and that’s the moment where I said my little girl’s a fighter. She was meant to do this. 

 

SE: How does it feel when you see me in the ring?

 

JE: Well it hasn’t changed from the first time I saw you in the ring, it’s kinda hard. The first time I watched you get hit, I really wanted to jump into that ring (both laugh.) You’ll see me moving and trying to slip every punch that’s being thrown at you

 

SE: (Laughs)

 

JE: I’m actually moving around. So it’s like they’re hitting me. How is it for you? What do you feel like when you’re in the ring?

 

SE: It’s a feeling that’s, like, hard to describe. Before I’m fighting, I feel so many different emotions. It’s crazy. But once I’m in the ring, I really don’t feel anything. I mean, ‘cause I’m so comfortable in there. It’s what I’m meant to do and I wanna keep fighting.

 

JE: Cool. That’s good.

 

SE: What I admire about you is, how you changed over the years and, just the person you’ve become.

 

JE: I’m not who I used to be, you know.

 

SE: Yeah he’s came a long way from being into gangs and stuff. All of a sudden, me wanting to box, it just all changed.

 

JE: I completely stopped doing all the drugs and everything that I used to do before. Because, at that split second when you made that decision, it’s over, I mean, I’m gonna stand right behind her, and be a good father to her. And I love you with all of my heart, baby. And I’m proud of you now and I’ll always be. Love you.

 

SE: Love you too.

 

JM: Not too long after this interview, Seniesa [sin-EE-sah] Estrada fought her first professional match… and 14 years later, she’s the undisputed female minimumweight champion of the world… and remains undefeated to this day. 

 

MG: For this next story, we’re going to stay in the ring… but instead of gloves… we’ll don a mask.

 

JM: John Torres Jr. grew up watching his father moonlight as a wrestler…  in a persona inspired by Lucha Libre Mexican wrestling…

 

MG: John Torres Sr died in 2011… and his son came to StoryCorps with his dad’s best friend and fellow wrestler, Abraham Guzman, to remember him…

 

John Torres (JT): My dad, he would always tell me to put him in a chokehold, and he would easily break it, and I was always so impressed by that strength. He was my hero, man. I remember he had the white boots, the white mask, with kind of like a red beak.

 

Abraham Guzman (AG): It was ”The Falcon.”

 

JT: He was ”The Falcon” yes. And my dad was a neat freak. So he’d fold things a certain way. And everything was in this giant gym bag. And every day I would look at that bag and say, ‘Man, there’s stardom in that bag!’ But he would discourage me when I was young. He always said, ‘You can be something better than that. Doctor, lawyer.’

 

And then, our relationship collided. There were a lot of absences from him, growing up. But the thing that always brought us back was wrestling. Over the phone we would talk about wrestling for like, hours. And I remember he said, ‘I want to tag team with you one day.’ And so you started training me.

 

AG: I learned that you wanted to start wrestling. So I said, ‘Well let’s see what I could do.’

 

JT: And I trained almost every day. I told my dad. And he said, ‘I’ll be there Saturday for your debut match.’ 

 

That Thursday, I get a phone call from my cousin. And he’s like, ‘Did you hear?’ and I was like, ‘No, what?’ And he was like, ‘Your father.’ And when he said, ‘My father,’ I already knew. And I said, ‘My dad died?’ and he could barely say ‘Yeah’ over the phone. I remember leaning against the wall, and just breaking down crying. And on the day of my debut, I was at the cemetery burying my dad. And that’s when I decided that wrestling was my legacy.

 

One of the things I think about, if he was still alive today, like how would he feel?

 

AG: I think he would be proud. Because I see a lot in you in him. Your certain wrestling moves, I’m like, ’I’ve seen that before. ’And sometimes, when I talk to you I feel like I’m talking to your dad again. Even the laugh. People don’t know it –

 

JT: [Laughs]

 

AG: — but when you laugh, I hear him all the time.

 

JT: You know, I want to keep his name alive, and that’s what I’ve been doing ever since.

 

JM: That’s John Torres Jr. and Abraham Guzman remembering John Torres Sr… also known as The Falcon.

 

MG: When we come back…how a grandmother became a competitive BMX racer… 

 

KWK: Cycling was our life, I mean, that’s what we did. And the nice thing about it was, we did it as a family. 

 

JM: Stay with us…

 

(BREAK)

 

JM: When Kittie Weston-Knauer started competing as a BMX racer… she was often the only woman on the track. 

 

MG: It was her son, Max Knauer, a BMX rider himself– and a champion– who introduced her to the sport when he was just 10 years old.

 

Max Knauer (MK): I was having a bad week racing and you were giving me pointers: ’You’ve gotta pedal! You’ve gotta keep pedaling!’ And at the time I was like, ’Well, if it looks so easy to you, then why don’t you try it?’

 

Kittie Weston-Knauer (KWK): And it was Mother’s Day of ‘88, I did my very first race. I was 40. I borrowed your gloves, I borrowed your helmet.

 

MK: Yep.

 

KWK: And I rode your bike. I was hanging on for dear life. I didn’t exactly tear up the track either.

 

MK: And I said, ’I told you so!’

 

KWK: True, but I tell you what: I had a whole new respect for what you were out there doing. And the other thing I said was. ’Well, hey, this is something I can do!’

 

MK: At first, I was a little embarrassed, I guess. But you know, after doing it a little while and we were traveling together, it was great. It was kind of our family sport.

 

KWK: It was.

 

MK: So yeah. I thought it was really cool how other mothers really looked up to you. But I was a little concerned.

 

KWK: Why was that?

 

MK: People always got hurt. Break an arm, collarbone. And then you ended up having a cycling accident.  You had broken your neck.  And then, seeing you in the hospital, um, it was pretty tough, especially considering the doctors saying, ’Well, she might not walk again.’

 

KWK: Right. I was paralyzed, from the shoulders down, but I was very determined that I was going to ride again.

 

MK: And seeing you get back on the track, I was a little nervous at first, but you were doing what you loved to do. I mean, that was really inspiring.

 

KWK: You know, people ask me, ’You continue to race?’ And my question to them is, ’Well why not?’ As long as I can keep the two wheels on the ground, I’m good.

 

JM: Max is now retired from BMX racing. Kittie is 76… and still competing. She is currently the oldest female BMX racer in the United States.

 

MG: Now we’re going to speed things up. Every race car driver relies on their crew. It’s impossible to get through a race without them. A driver and their team can be like family.

 

JM: And in the case of Wendell Scott his crew was his family. His own sons worked as his pit crew, and they’d all travel to races together from their home in Virginia.

 

MG: Wendell Scott was Black… and drove during the Jim Crow era. He was the first African American to win a race at NASCAR’s elite Major League level.

 

JM: He died in 1990…and his son Frank and grandson Warrick sat down to remember him. 

 

Frank Scott (FS): He started racing in 1952. And you know, it was like Picasso. Like a great artist doing his work. And he was in that car, and he was doing his work. 

 

And as children we didn’t have that leisure time, you know, we couldn’t go to the playground. He said to us, ’I need you at the garage.’ I can remember him getting injured and he’d just take axle grease and put it in the cut and keep working. 

But he wasn’t allowed to race at certain speedways. He had death threats not to come to Atlanta. And Daddy said, ’Look. If I leave in a pine box, that’s what I gotta do. But I’m gonna race.’ 

 

I can remember him racing in Jacksonville and he beat them all. But they wouldn’t drop the checkered flag. And then when they did drop the checkered flag, they had my father in 3rd place. One of the main reasons that they gave was there was a white beauty queen and they always kissed the driver.

 

Warrick Scott (WS): Did he ever consider not racing anymore?

 

FS: Never. That was one of my daddy’s sayings, ’When it’s too tough for everybody else, it’s just right for me.’ Like I can remember one time when we were racing the Atlanta 500 and, um, he was sick. He needed an operation. And I said, ’Daddy, we don’t have to race today.’ He whispered to me and said, ’Lift my legs up and put me in the car.’ So, I took my arms and put behind his legs and I kind of acted like I was hugging him and helped him into the car. He drove 500 miles that day.

 

WS: How did his racing career officially end?

 

FS: Well, finances. You know, he couldn’t get the support. Where other drivers that we were competing against had major sponsorships, providing them engineers, as many cars as they needed, he did everything that he did out of his own pocket. He always felt like someday he’s gonna get his big break. But, uh, for twenty years nobody mentioned Wendell Scott. At one point it was like he never existed. But he didn’t let it drive him crazy. I think that’s what made him so great. You know, he chose to be a race car driver and he was going to race until he couldn’t race no more.

JM: Wendell Scott was finally inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2015.

That’s all for this episode of the StoryCorps Podcast. It was produced by Max Jungreis and Jud Esty-Kendall. 

MG: Amy Drozdowska is our Executive Producer… our Technical Director is Jarrett Floyd… and our fact checker is Katie Scott. The art for this season was created by Liz McCarty. 

 

Special thanks for this episode to producers Nadia Reiman, Liyna Anwar, Joshua Christenson, Kelly Moffitt and John White.

 

JM: …and facilitators Lily Percy and Grace Pauley.

 

We’re loving hearing the stories that listeners are leaving on our voicemail… and this week, we want to know: Who in your life is your secret weapon? Is it a family member?…a friend? Tell us why in a voicemail at 702-706-TALK.

 

MG: That’s 702-706-T-A-L-K… I’m Michael Garofalo. 

 

JM: And I’m Jasmyn Morris. Thanks for listening…