Mae Weston was a noted female wrestler who contended for the world title held by Mildred Burke in the early 1950s. Weston was born in Leavenworth, Kansas. When her mother died when she was 8 Mae's father moved his family to a small mining town in Missouri. Mae's older sister, Wilma Gordon, had become involved in acrobatics, joining the carnival as a means of getting out of a bad marriage. Mae soon followed her sibling into carnival life and acrobatics. She also boxed in carnivals and positioned herself nicely to become a wrestler when the sport became popular among women.