Pete Weber
Encyclopedia
Peter David "Pete" Weber, nicknamed “PDW”, http://www.usatoday.com/sports/bowling/clark/2002-02-12-clark.htm (born August 21, 1962 in St. Ann, Missouri
), is a famous bowling
professional on the Professional Bowlers Association
(PBA) Tour. Weber is one of the sport's most popular active players and is well known for his maverick, rebellious personality. Weber is also featured in the ten-pin bowling sports documentary A League of Ordinary Gentlemen
.
, and, as the son of bowling legend Dick Weber
, was introduced to the sport at the age of two. At the age of 15, Weber was already winning local bowling tournaments against adult players, and, with the help of his father, was able to join the PBA tour at the age of 17 (the former policy required a minimum age of 18). In 1979, Weber started his first year on the professional circuit and participated in 21 tour events, including making one TV appearance. Weber won Rookie of the Year honors in 1980
. By 1982
, he had won his first PBA title, winning two that season. By the time he was 24 years old, he had already reached the 10-title plateau (becoming the youngest player in PBA history to reach that mark). At age 26, he won the PBA National Championship, giving him all three jewels of the PBA's "triple crown" (achieved by winning the U.S. Open, Tournament of Champions and PBA National Championship).
. By 1989, Weber had won 13 PBA Tour titles and had reached over $1 million (USD) in earnings, but his personal life was plagued with problems. By the mid-1990s, Weber had been through two divorces and suffered from alcoholism
. At the same time, the PBA tour itself was in decline.
In 2000, the PBA Tour was sold to three former Microsoft
executives; Weber was not on the tour during this transitional phase, as he was still serving a six-month suspension given by the former PBA leadership in 1999 due to behavior related to his drinking problem. The new tour ownership saw Weber's flashiness as a potential tool for marketing the PBA to a new audience. By the 2001-02 season, Weber had his career back on track, winning three titles in all. On December 4, 2005, Weber overcame a year of trying times both personally and professionally by clinching what was, perhaps, the most emotional title of his career at the 2005 Bowlersparadise.com Classic at Stardust Bowl in Hammond, Indiana
. This marked the first television appearance for Pete Weber in 666 days, and it was his first title after the death of his father on February 13, 2005. Pete honored his father after the victory by looking into the ESPN cameras and pointing at the "DW" patch on his sleeve.
, then Scroggins would have been named Player of the Year.)
Pete's eight majors place him in a tie with Mike Aulby
and Walter Ray Williams, Jr.
, second all-time to the legendary Earl Anthony
, who has 10. Weber has rolled 60 perfect 300 games in PBA competition through the 2009-10 season. He has also won the most modern-day U.S. Open titles (4). Weber is one of five PBA players to have earned the career Triple Crown. If he wins one more Tournament of Champions title, he'll become the first bowler to win all three jewels of the Triple Crown at least twice in a career.
Pete Weber claimed his first career European Bowling Tour title in 2008, in the 30th Trofeu Internacional, July 22-27, 2008, Ciutat de Barcelona at Bowling Pedralbes in Barcelona, Spain.
Pete joined his father in the PBA Hall of Fame in 1998
, and he became a member of the United States Bowling Congress
Hall of Fame in 2002. His career PBA Tour earnings of over $3.2 million (through the 2010-11 season) place him second all-time, behind only all-time titles leader Walter Ray Williams, Jr.
Weber and Williams are the only two PBA bowlers to have topped the $3 million mark in career earnings. He is also second to Williams in career TV appearances (120) and TV match wins (107). Pete owns 46 PBA Regional titles, the most all-time.
Pete was ranked 4th on the PBA's 2008 list of "50 Greatest Players of the Last 50 Years," one place behind his father.
On ESPN's Cold Pizza
he mentioned that he has made the 7-10 split four times in his career. He also noted that he is a near-scratch golfer
and has six career holes-in-one.
Williams defeated Weber, 236-213, on March 26, 2006, in the title match of the PBA World Championship to tie Earl Anthony's
original all time tour titles record of 41.
Williams also defeated Weber, 289-236, on September 24, 2006, in the title match of the Dydo Japan Cup to break Anthony's all-time tour titles record and establish the all-time mark of 42 titles.
St. Ann, Missouri
St. Ann is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis in mid St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 13,020 at the 2010 census.-Geography:...
), is a famous bowling
Ten-pin bowling
Ten-pin bowling is a competitive sport in which a player rolls a bowling ball down a wooden or synthetic lane with the objective of scoring points by knocking down as many pins as possible.-Summary:The lane is bordered along its length by semicylindrical channels Ten-pin bowling (commonly just...
professional on the Professional Bowlers Association
Professional Bowlers Association
The Professional Bowlers Association is the major sanctioning body for the sport of professional ten-pin bowling in the United States. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, the PBA membership consists of almost 4,300 members worldwide...
(PBA) Tour. Weber is one of the sport's most popular active players and is well known for his maverick, rebellious personality. Weber is also featured in the ten-pin bowling sports documentary A League of Ordinary Gentlemen
A League of Ordinary Gentlemen
A League of Ordinary Gentlemen is a documentary film about ten-pin bowling that was released on DVD on March 21, 2006. It was written and directed by Christopher Browne and stars PBA Tour players Pete Weber, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Chris Barnes, and Wayne Webb...
.
Growing up
Pete Weber grew up in Florissant, MissouriFlorissant, Missouri
Florissant is a second-ring suburb of St. Louis, located in northern St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The city has a total population of 52,158 in 2010 census.-History:...
, and, as the son of bowling legend Dick Weber
Dick Weber
Dick Weber was a famous bowling professional and a founding member of the Professional Bowlers Association...
, was introduced to the sport at the age of two. At the age of 15, Weber was already winning local bowling tournaments against adult players, and, with the help of his father, was able to join the PBA tour at the age of 17 (the former policy required a minimum age of 18). In 1979, Weber started his first year on the professional circuit and participated in 21 tour events, including making one TV appearance. Weber won Rookie of the Year honors in 1980
1980 in sports
1980 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup:** Men's overall season champion: Andreas Wenzel, Liechtenstein** Women's overall season champion: Hanni Wenzel, Liechtenstein...
. By 1982
1982 in sports
1982 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup:** Men's overall season champion: Phil Mahre, United States** Women's overall season champion: Erika Hess, Switzerland-American football:...
, he had won his first PBA title, winning two that season. By the time he was 24 years old, he had already reached the 10-title plateau (becoming the youngest player in PBA history to reach that mark). At age 26, he won the PBA National Championship, giving him all three jewels of the PBA's "triple crown" (achieved by winning the U.S. Open, Tournament of Champions and PBA National Championship).
Controversy
Despite Weber's talent, he was not popular with his bowling peers and was even denied Player of the Year honors in 1987 despite winning the Tournament of Champions and leading the tour in earnings; the award was instead given to Marshall HolmanMarshall Holman
Marshall Holman is an American professional bowler primarily known for his success on the PBA Tour throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He also served as a color analyst alongside Mike Durbin on several ESPN and ESPN2 bowling telecasts from 1996–2001...
. By 1989, Weber had won 13 PBA Tour titles and had reached over $1 million (USD) in earnings, but his personal life was plagued with problems. By the mid-1990s, Weber had been through two divorces and suffered from alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
. At the same time, the PBA tour itself was in decline.
In 2000, the PBA Tour was sold to three former Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
executives; Weber was not on the tour during this transitional phase, as he was still serving a six-month suspension given by the former PBA leadership in 1999 due to behavior related to his drinking problem. The new tour ownership saw Weber's flashiness as a potential tool for marketing the PBA to a new audience. By the 2001-02 season, Weber had his career back on track, winning three titles in all. On December 4, 2005, Weber overcame a year of trying times both personally and professionally by clinching what was, perhaps, the most emotional title of his career at the 2005 Bowlersparadise.com Classic at Stardust Bowl in Hammond, Indiana
Hammond, Indiana
Hammond is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. The population was 80,830 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Hammond is located at ....
. This marked the first television appearance for Pete Weber in 666 days, and it was his first title after the death of his father on February 13, 2005. Pete honored his father after the victory by looking into the ESPN cameras and pointing at the "DW" patch on his sleeve.
Achievements
Overall, Weber has won 35 PBA Tour events, including eight major titles. His 35th tour win on April 4, 2010 put him in sole possession of third place on the all-time PBA Tour titles list. (The win also ensured Walter Ray Williams Jr. of his record 7th Player of the Year award, as well as making Williams the oldest ever to win it. Had Weber lost in the final match against Mike ScrogginsMike Scroggins
Mike Scroggins is a left-handed professional ten-pin bowler and member of the Professional Bowlers Association , having joined in 1989. He resides in Amarillo, TX.Profile at www.pba.com He has won eight PBA Tour titles in his career, including two majors. He won the USBC Masters in 2005 and the...
, then Scroggins would have been named Player of the Year.)
Pete's eight majors place him in a tie with Mike Aulby
Mike Aulby
Mike Aulby is a left-handed bowler and former member of the Professional Bowlers Association . He is one of only three PBA bowlers to win both a Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year award...
and Walter Ray Williams, Jr.
Walter Ray Williams
Walter Ray Williams, Jr. is one of the top-ranking professional ten-pin bowlers in history. He currently holds the record for all-time standard PBA Tour career titles and total PBA earnings...
, second all-time to the legendary Earl Anthony
Earl Anthony
Earl Roderick Anthony was a left-handed American professional bowler who amassed records of 41 titles and six bowler of the year awards on the Professional Bowlers Association Tour. His title count was amended to 43 in 2008, when the PBA chose to include ABC Masters titles earned by a PBA member...
, who has 10. Weber has rolled 60 perfect 300 games in PBA competition through the 2009-10 season. He has also won the most modern-day U.S. Open titles (4). Weber is one of five PBA players to have earned the career Triple Crown. If he wins one more Tournament of Champions title, he'll become the first bowler to win all three jewels of the Triple Crown at least twice in a career.
Pete Weber claimed his first career European Bowling Tour title in 2008, in the 30th Trofeu Internacional, July 22-27, 2008, Ciutat de Barcelona at Bowling Pedralbes in Barcelona, Spain.
Pete joined his father in the PBA Hall of Fame in 1998
1998 in sports
1998 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Hermann Maier, Austria** Women's overall season champion: Katja Seizinger, Germany-American football:...
, and he became a member of the United States Bowling Congress
United States Bowling Congress
The United States Bowling Congress is a sports membership organization dedicated to ten-pin bowling in the United States. It was formed in 2005 by a merger of the American Bowling Congress, Women's International Bowling Congress, Young American Bowling Alliance, and USA Bowling...
Hall of Fame in 2002. His career PBA Tour earnings of over $3.2 million (through the 2010-11 season) place him second all-time, behind only all-time titles leader Walter Ray Williams, Jr.
Walter Ray Williams
Walter Ray Williams, Jr. is one of the top-ranking professional ten-pin bowlers in history. He currently holds the record for all-time standard PBA Tour career titles and total PBA earnings...
Weber and Williams are the only two PBA bowlers to have topped the $3 million mark in career earnings. He is also second to Williams in career TV appearances (120) and TV match wins (107). Pete owns 46 PBA Regional titles, the most all-time.
Pete was ranked 4th on the PBA's 2008 list of "50 Greatest Players of the Last 50 Years," one place behind his father.
On ESPN's Cold Pizza
Cold Pizza
Cold Pizza was a television sports morning talk show that aired weekdays on ESPN2. The show's style was more akin to Good Morning America than SportsCenters straight news and highlights format. It included daily sports news, interviews with sports journalists, athletes, and personalities, and an...
he mentioned that he has made the 7-10 split four times in his career. He also noted that he is a near-scratch golfer
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
and has six career holes-in-one.
Defeats
Pete Weber was the victim in two momentous victories by Walter Ray Williams, Jr.Walter Ray Williams
Walter Ray Williams, Jr. is one of the top-ranking professional ten-pin bowlers in history. He currently holds the record for all-time standard PBA Tour career titles and total PBA earnings...
Williams defeated Weber, 236-213, on March 26, 2006, in the title match of the PBA World Championship to tie Earl Anthony's
Earl Anthony
Earl Roderick Anthony was a left-handed American professional bowler who amassed records of 41 titles and six bowler of the year awards on the Professional Bowlers Association Tour. His title count was amended to 43 in 2008, when the PBA chose to include ABC Masters titles earned by a PBA member...
original all time tour titles record of 41.
Williams also defeated Weber, 289-236, on September 24, 2006, in the title match of the Dydo Japan Cup to break Anthony's all-time tour titles record and establish the all-time mark of 42 titles.
Bowling Style and Personal Information
- His style is a power strokerBowling formIn the sport of ten-pin bowling there are many different ways in which to deliver the bowling ball in order to advance it toward the pins in an accurate and powerful manner. Generally, there are three basic forms and several variants. The most basic form is known as stroking, which is the most...
, which combines the high backswing and rev rate of a cranker with the smooth timing of a stroker. - He wears sunglasses while bowling on television to reduce the glare of the TV lights.
- When he gets a strike, he sometimes does the D Generation-X crotch chop.
- Pete's bowling idol growing up was not his father, but Mark RothMark RothMark Roth is a former professional bowler. He was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York. As a youth he resided in Meiers Corners, Staten Island, New York City, New York.-Bowling career:...
, one of the game's original power players who inspired Pete to hook the ball much more than his father ever did. - Pete dropped out of high school in the 10th grade, opting to work behind the pins at a local bowling center and refine his game during time off. He got his General Equivalency Degree (GED) at age 17, just prior to joining the PBA Tour.
- He has been married to third wife, Tracy, since 1997. They have three children together.
- Weber has many superstitions when bowling, including: sitting in the same spot the same way when bowling well, not having his wife Tracy wear red on TV, and folding his towel the same way.
- Weber's most embarrassing moment came on national television on April 13, 1991. As Pete explained to Sports IllustratedSports IllustratedSports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
on November 7, 2006, "After I won the 1991 [BPAA] U.S. Open, I went to lift the trophy over my head. The eagle toppled down and busted into a million pieces. People came up and grabbed pieces to take home." - He likes to follow all the St. LouisSt. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
professional sports teams: CardinalsSt. Louis CardinalsThe St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
, RamsSt. Louis RamsThe St. Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are currently members of the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Rams have won three NFL Championships .The Rams began playing in 1936 in Cleveland,...
, and Blues. - In an interview after winning his first title of the 2001 season (Great Lakes Classic), he addressed the bowling world with the statement: "I want you to take a look, I'm back and I am P.D.W." During the telecast, Weber shot 299, leaving a 4-pin on the 12th ball after eleven straight strikes.
- He has written on BowlSpace, the social networking site for bowlers, that he is a big wrestling fan, particularly of the WWE. His favorite wrestler is Triple HTriple HPaul Michael Levesque is an American professional wrestler, professional wrestling authority figure, WWE Executive Vice President of Talent and actor, better known by his ring name Triple H, an abbreviation of the ring name, Hunter Hearst Helmsley...
, and when Weber gets spares and strikes on TV "The Game" by Motörhead (Triple H's entrance music) plays through the speakers.