Joan Anderson, Unsung Heroine of Hula Hoop History, Dies at 101

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Joan Anderson, Unsung Heroine of Hula Hoop History, Dies at 101

Because of a deal made on a handshake in a parking lot, she was long left out of a famous toy’s story. When she was 94, a documentary changed that.


In a scene from the documentary “Hula Girl,” Joan Anderson walks through La Costa Glen, the retirement community near San Diego where she lived, with the hoop that her mother sent her from Australia. The hoop would play a little-known role in pop-culture history. Amy Hill and Chris Riess

By Alex Vadukul
Published July 27, 2025
Updated July 31, 2025

In 1956, Joan Anderson, a Los Angeles housewife and onetime model, flew to Australia, her home country, to visit her parents. When she arrived, she realized that a curious fitness craze had taken hold. … “Everywhere I would go, everybody was giggling,” Ms. Anderson said in “Hula Girl,” a 2018 documentary. “I asked what was going on and they said, ‘Oh, everyone’s doing the hoop.’” … The “hoop,” she discovered, was an exercise ring, made of wood, that was swiveled around the waist and hips. … “Everyone was having such fun,” she added, “I thought, ‘I’d like to do that, too.’”

Back in Los Angeles, Ms. Anderson asked her mother to mail her one of the rings from Australia, and it soon brought joy to the Anderson household. … Her children played with it. Ms. Anderson swerved it around her hips for friends at dinner parties. When someone told her that it looked as if she was “doing the hula,” the traditional Hawaiian dance, Ms. Anderson was struck with inspiration. … She named the object the hula hoop. … What transpired next would place Ms. Anderson at the center of what she described as an American tale of shattered dreams and promises, a business deal made on a handshake, and, eventually, a lawsuit.


As a young model in Sydney, Australia, Ms. Anderson was known as the “Pocket Venus.” Loralyn Willis

Ms. Anderson died on July 14 at a nursing facility in Carlsbad, Calif., north of San Diego. She was 101. Her daughter, Loralyn Willis, announced the death.

The hubbub over the hoop started when her husband, Wayne, saw opportunity in the object and decided to pitch it to Wham-O, a toy company that soon became known for the Frisbee. As it happened, he was acquainted with one of Wham-O’s founders, Arthur Melin, known as Spud, so he arranged a meeting. … The encounter, she recalled, occurred in a parking lot outside Wham-O’s offices in San Gabriel, Calif. The Andersons opened up the trunk of their car and took out the hoop.

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Alex Vadukul is a features writer for the Styles section of The Times, specializing in stories about New York City.

A version of this article appears in print on July 28, 2025, Section B, Page 6 of the New York edition with the headline: Joan Anderson, Unsung Heroine of Hula Hoop History, Is Dead at 101. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe