Peter David Weber (born August 21, 1962) is an American semi-retired
bowler in the
Professional Bowlers Association
The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) is the major sanctioning body for the sport of professional ten-pin bowling in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, the PBA membership consists of over 3,000 members worldwide. Member ...
(PBA) and a member of the PBA and
USBC Halls of Fame. Weber was one of the sport's most active players and became known for his maverick, chirpy and rebellious personality. He is also known for being incredibly versatile, with his high backswing and the side rotation he puts on the bowling ball helping him control numerous oil conditions. Weber is featured in the ten-pin bowling sports documentary ''
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 ...
''. He has won 37 titles on the
PBA Tour
The PBA Tour is the major professional tour for ten-pin bowling, operated by the Professional Bowlers Association. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, over 3,000 members worldwide make up the PBA. While most of the PBA members are Regional profess ...
(fourth all-time), including ten major championships (tied for second all-time), and another 13 titles (five majors) on the PBA50 Tour. He is one of only three bowlers in history (with
Walter Ray Williams Jr. and
Earl Anthony
Earl Roderick Anthony (April 27, 1938 – August 14, 2001) was an American professional bowler who amassed records of 43 titles and six Player of the Year awards on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. For over two decades, his care ...
) to have amassed at least 50 combined titles between the PBA Tour and PBA50 Tour. Weber and Williams Jr. are the only two bowlers to have amassed at least 100 total PBA titles, with PBA Regional events added. (Weber currently has 106 total titles with his 48
PBA Regional Tour and eight PBA50 Regional Tour wins included.)
Weber has won bowling's
U.S. Open a record five times. Among the eight players in history to win the PBA's triple crown (U.S. Open,
PBA World Championship The PBA World Championship is one of five major PBA (Professional Bowlers Association) bowling events. It is one of three PBA Tour major events that are open only to PBA members. (The U.S. Open and USBC Masters allow qualifying amateurs to enter.) ...
and
PBA Tournament of Champions The PBA Tournament of Champions is one of the five major PBA (Professional Bowlers Association) Ten-pin bowling, bowling events. It is an invitational event and the only PBA Tour major that does not have any open field. All participants must meet qu ...
), Weber is the only one to win each of these events at least twice in a career. He has also won the PBA Senior U.S. Open twice, and is a two-time PBA50 Player of the Year.
Early life
Weber grew up in
Florissant, Missouri
Florissant () is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, within Greater St. Louis. It is a middle class, second-ring northern suburb of St. Louis. Based on the 2020 United States census, the city had a total population of 52,533, making it the 12 ...
, and as the son of bowling superstar
Dick Weber
Richard Anthony Weber (December 23, 1929 – February 14, 2005) was a ten-pin bowling professional and a founding member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). Along with Don Carter, Weber is widely regarded as professional bowling's fi ...
, 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 won his first
PBA Regional Tour event (as a non-member) at age 16.
With the help of his father, Pete was able to become a PBA member at the age of 17 (the former policy required a minimum age of 18). In 1979, Weber bowled in his first event on the professional circuit and participated in 20 tour events during the
1980 season, making one televised finals appearance. Weber won Rookie of the Year honors in
1980
Events January
* January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission.
* January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC.
* January 9 – ...
. By
1982
Events January
* January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00).
* January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...
, 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 attain that mark). At age 26, he narrowly won the
PBA National Championship over Dave Ferraro, 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).
[
]
Achievements
PBA Tour
Weber and his father, Dick, were the first father-and-son combination to ever both earn a title on the PBA Tour. The feat has since been matched three times, by Don
Don, don or DON and variants may refer to:
Places
*County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON
*Don (river), a river in European Russia
*Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name
*Don, Benin, a town in Benin
*Don, Dang, a vill ...
/Jimmy Johnson (1990), Don/Eugene McCune (2002) and Guppy
The guppy (), also known as millionfish and rainbow fish, is one of the world's most widely distributed tropical fish and one of the most popular freshwater aquarium fish species. It is a member of the family Poeciliidae and, like almost all ...
/Kyle Troup
Kyle Troup (born June 11, 1991) is an American professional ten-pin bowler residing in Taylorsville, North Carolina. He uses the two-handed shovel-style delivery with a dominant right hand. Troup says he needed two hands when learning to throw ...
(2015).
Weber was the youngest player to reach 10 PBA titles, accomplishing the feat in 1987 at age 24 years, 247 days. He reached the 20-title plateau in 1993, before going on the longest winless streak in his professional career between 1994 and 1996. In the 2003–04 season, Weber won two titles, including his 30th title and his third U.S. Open, and earned a career-high $206,217. 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 ( ) is a city in Lake County, Indiana. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area, and the only city in Indiana to border Chicago. First settled in the mid-19th century, it is one of the oldest cities of northern Lake County. As of the ...
. This marked the first television appearance for Weber in 666 days, and it was his first title after the death of his father on February 13, 2005. Weber honored his father after the victory by looking into the ESPN cameras and pointing at the "DW" patch on his sleeve.
Overall, Weber has won 37 PBA Tour events, including ten major titles (tied with Earl Anthony
Earl Roderick Anthony (April 27, 1938 – August 14, 2001) was an American professional bowler who amassed records of 43 titles and six Player of the Year awards on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. For over two decades, his care ...
for the second most majors all-time). His 37th tour win on March 31, 2013 came at age 50 in the Tournament of Champions. His 37 wins place him fourth on the all-time PBA tour titles list, behind only Walter Ray Williams, Jr.
Walter Ray Williams Jr. (born October 6, 1959) is an American professional bowler and competitive horseshoes pitcher. He currently holds the record for all-time standard PBA Tour career titles (47) and total PBA earnings (over $4.9 million throu ...
(47), Earl Anthony
Earl Roderick Anthony (April 27, 1938 – August 14, 2001) was an American professional bowler who amassed records of 43 titles and six Player of the Year awards on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. For over two decades, his care ...
(43) and Norm Duke
Norm Duke (born March 25, 1964) is an American professional bowler currently competing on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour and the PBA50 Tour. He has won 40 titles on the PBA Tour, including seven major championships, and another ...
(40). Weber's 35th Tour win at the end of the 2009-10 season against Mike Scroggins
Mike Scroggins (born March 12, 1964) is a left-handed professional ten-pin bowler and member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA), having joined in 1989. He resides in Amarillo, TX.Profile at www.pba.co/ref> He has won eight PBA Tour t ...
at the 2010 Marathon Open in the title match ensured Walter Ray Williams Jr. his record 7th Player of the Year award, as well as making Williams (then age 50) the oldest ever to win that award. Had Weber lost the title match, Scroggins would have been named Player of the Year for that season.
Weber has rolled 85 perfect 300 games in PBA competition through 2018. His five U.S. Open titles are the most of any bowler in PBA history. He also had a runner-up finish in the 1987 U.S. Open. Weber is one of eight PBA players to have earned the career PBA Triple Crown. Upon winning the 2013 Tournament of Champions title, he became the first bowler to win all three jewels of the Triple Crown at least ''twice'' in a career (five U.S. Open titles, two PBA World Championship titles, and two wins in the Tournament of Champions). He is also the oldest winner of the U.S. Open (49) and Tournament of Champions (50). The Tournament of Champions win at age 50 years, 222 days made him the oldest player to win a PBA Tour major title that was considered a major at the time of victory. (Ernie Schlegel won the 1996 USBC Masters at age 53 before it was considered a PBA major; he was retroactively credited with a major due to a 2008 rule change.) Weber's other major win was in the Touring Players Championship, which has only recently become a PBA major again. The only major that has eluded him is the USBC Masters
The USBC Masters is a championship ten-pin bowling event conducted by the United States Bowling Congress. The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) began recognizing it as a title event in 1998, and it was designated one of the four majors in 200 ...
.
Along with Mike Aulby
Mike Aulby (born March 25, 1960, in Indianapolis, Indiana) is a left-handed bowler and former member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). He is one of only five PBA bowlers to win both a Rookie and Player of the Year award. ( Tommy Jones ...
, Norm Duke, and Walter Ray Williams Jr., Pete is one of only four bowlers to have won at least one standard PBA Tour title in four different decades (1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s). However, a feat that sets him apart from his contemporaries is that he's won a U.S. Open title in the same four consecutive decades, specifically in 1988, 1991, 2004, 2007, and 2012.
Weber joined his father in the PBA Hall of Fame in 1998, and he became a member of the United States Bowling Congress
The United States Bowling Congress (USBC) 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—the original codifier of all tenpin bowling stand ...
Hall of Fame in 2002. His career PBA Tour earnings of over $4 million (through the 2019 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 $4 million mark in career earnings. Weber owns 48 PBA Regional titles, the most all-time, in addition to four PBA50 Regional titles.
Weber was ranked 4th on the PBA's 2008 list of "50 Greatest Players of the Last 50 Years," one place behind his father.
At age 58, Weber participated in World Series of Bowling XII and made the Round of 16 match play at the 2021 PBA Scorpion Championship. Prior to match play on March 17, he announced that this would be his last event as an active national PBA Tour member, choosing to focus on Regional and PBA50 Tour events. As he completed his bowling that day, Weber said to the FloBowling cameras:
Over his 41-year PBA Tour career, Weber made the final match 67 times, going 37–30 in those matches, and made the top five 152 times (second all-time).
PBA Senior Tours (PBA50 and PBA60)
Weber joined the PBA50 Tour (formerly PBA Senior Tour) in 2013. His first title on that tour was a major: the 2013 USBC Senior Masters, which he won on June 14. He also won the last PBA50 Tour tournament of the season on his 51st birthday and earned Rookie of the Year honors.
Weber won a second PBA50 major title, his fourth PBA50 title overall, at the Suncoast PBA Senior U.S. Open on June 5, 2015. The win made Pete the second player in history, after Norm Duke, to win the U.S. Open on both the standard PBA Tour and the PBA50 Tour. Weber was named the PBA50 Player of the Year for the 2015 season, after dominating in the earnings, average and competition points categories. It was his first PBA Player of the Year win of any kind.
On May 10, 2016, Weber won the BVL Johnny Petraglia
John Petraglia Sr. (born March 3, 1947) is an American professional bowler. He is a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA), where he won 14 PBA Tour titles. He has also won eight PBA Senior Tour titles. He is a member of both the P ...
Open on the PBA50 Tour for his third consecutive title in the 2016 season, and seventh PBA50 title overall. He joined fellow PBA Hall of Famer Tom Baker
Thomas Stewart Baker (born 20 January 1934) is an English actor and writer. He is well known for his portrayal of the Fourth Doctor, fourth incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the science fiction television series ''Doctor Wh ...
as the only players to ever win three consecutive PBA50 Tour events. In the next PBA50 Tour stop, Weber successfully defended his 2015 PBA Senior U.S. Open crown, and became the only bowler to win four consecutive PBA50 Tour events. Although the winning streak was stopped in the next tournament, Weber made history again later in the season. His victory at the 2016 USBC Senior Masters on June 26 made him the first bowler ever to win five titles in a single PBA50 Tour season. Weber's unprecedented PBA50 season continued on July 28, when he won his sixth title of 2016 in the PBA50 South Shore Open. Despite missing the last three events of the 2016 season due to a hip injury, Weber easily won his second consecutive PBA50 Player of the Year award with 457,200 points more than 200,000 above the next closest player (Amleto Monacelli
Amleto Monacelli (born 27 August 1961) is a Venezuelan professional bowler and a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). He has amassed 20 titles on the PBA Tour, making him one of only 16 players in history to accumulate at least ...
with 241,680 points). Weber also averaged a PBA50 record 237.03 for the season, almost nine pins ahead of second-place Norm Duke (228.31).
In the 2017 PBA50 season finale on August 8, Weber won his 11th PBA50 title, capturing the DeHayes Insurance Group Championship held in Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...
. This victory gave Weber 100 total PBA titles (37 PBA Tour, 11 PBA50 Tour, 48 PBA Regional Tour and four PBA50 Regional Tour). Walter Ray Williams Jr. is the only other bowler to reach this total.
On April 29, 2021, Weber won his 12th PBA50 Tour title (and first since 2017) in the Florida Blue Medicare PBA50 National Championship for his fifth PBA50 major. One week later, on May 5, Weber made it back-to-back PBA50 championships, earning his 13th title at the PBA50 Granville Financial Open, his 50th national tournament win in PBA-sanctioned competition (regular and PBA50).
Weber is one of only five bowlers in history (with Walter Ray Williams Jr., Tom Baker
Thomas Stewart Baker (born 20 January 1934) is an English actor and writer. He is well known for his portrayal of the Fourth Doctor, fourth incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the science fiction television series ''Doctor Wh ...
, Amleto Monacelli
Amleto Monacelli (born 27 August 1961) is a Venezuelan professional bowler and a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). He has amassed 20 titles on the PBA Tour, making him one of only 16 players in history to accumulate at least ...
and Parker Bohn III
Parker Morse Bohn III (born July 13, 1963) is a left-handed American professional bowler. He has been a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) since 1984, and is a member of the PBA and USBC Halls of Fame. Bohn is one of only eigh ...
) to have won at least 10 titles on both the standard PBA Tour and the PBA50 Tour. Pete and his father, Dick, are two of the eight players in history (with Dave Soutar
David Soutar (born March 7, 1940) is a retired professional ten-pin bowler who competed on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. He won 18 times on the regular PBA Tour, and seven more times on the PBA Senior Tour (now known as the PBA ...
, Johnny Petraglia
John Petraglia Sr. (born March 3, 1947) is an American professional bowler. He is a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA), where he won 14 PBA Tour titles. He has also won eight PBA Senior Tour titles. He is a member of both the P ...
, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Amleto Monacelli, Parker Bohn III
Parker Morse Bohn III (born July 13, 1963) is a left-handed American professional bowler. He has been a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) since 1984, and is a member of the PBA and USBC Halls of Fame. Bohn is one of only eigh ...
and Norm Duke
Norm Duke (born March 25, 1964) is an American professional bowler currently competing on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour and the PBA50 Tour. He has won 40 titles on the PBA Tour, including seven major championships, and another ...
) who have won a PBA Tour or PBA50 Tour title in five different decades.
Weber will be eligible to participate in the second tier of the PBA Senior Tour, PBA60, in 2023, as his 60th birthday will come after entries close for the final PBA60 tournament of the 2022 season.
Other achievements
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
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
, Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
.
When Pete won his first PBA title in 1982, it was the first time a father (Dick Weber) and son had each captured PBA titles. This has since happened three more times (Don
Don, don or DON and variants may refer to:
Places
*County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON
*Don (river), a river in European Russia
*Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name
*Don, Benin, a town in Benin
*Don, Dang, a vill ...
and Jimmy Johnson, Don and Eugene McCune, Guppy
The guppy (), also known as millionfish and rainbow fish, is one of the world's most widely distributed tropical fish and one of the most popular freshwater aquarium fish species. It is a member of the family Poeciliidae and, like almost all ...
and Kyle Troup
Kyle Troup (born June 11, 1991) is an American professional ten-pin bowler residing in Taylorsville, North Carolina. He uses the two-handed shovel-style delivery with a dominant right hand. Troup says he needed two hands when learning to throw ...
).
Weber is one of only 13 players in PBA history to start in the 24th and final spot of the match play round and go on to win a tournament. He and Mike Aulby
Mike Aulby (born March 25, 1960, in Indianapolis, Indiana) is a left-handed bowler and former member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). He is one of only five PBA bowlers to win both a Rookie and Player of the Year award. ( Tommy Jones ...
are the only two players to accomplish this feat twice. Weber did so in 1984, and again in 1991.
On ESPN's ''Cold Pizza
''Cold Pizza'' is an American television sports morning talk show that aired weekdays on ESPN2 from 2003 to 2007. The show's style was more akin to '' Good Morning America'' than '' SportsCenter''s straight news and highlights format. It included ...
'' he mentioned that he has made the 7-10 split four times in his career. He also noted that he is a near-scratch golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
er and has six career holes-in-one.
Weber won the 2013 ESPY Award
An ESPY Award (short for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award) is an accolade currently presented by the American broadcast television network ABC, and previously ESPN (as of the 2017 ESPY Awards the latter still airs them in the form ...
for Best Bowler, defeating fellow nominees Jason Belmonte
Jason Belmonte (born 29 July 1983) is an Australian professional ten-pin bowler. He plays on the PBA Tour in the United States and in world events. He is known for being one of the first bowlers to gain media attention for using the two hand ...
and Scott Norton
Scott Norton (born June 15, 1961) is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenures in World Championship Wrestling and New Japan Pro-Wrestling, in which he was a member of the New World Order (professional wrest ...
.
Controversy
By the early 1980s, Weber had established himself as one of the best bowlers in the world, but his lifestyle saw numerous long binges of alcohol and cocaine use. In a 1985 ''Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...
'' article, Weber admitted to spending a four-week stretch on tour in a "complete blackout"—staying up for days on end with cocaine, and drinking a fifth of Jack Daniel's
Jack Daniel's is a brand of Tennessee whiskey. It is produced in Lynchburg, Tennessee, by the Jack Daniel Distillery, which has been owned by the Brown–Forman Corporation since 1956.
Packaged in square bottles, Jack Daniel's "Black Label" T ...
every night. Pete estimated he blew through about $150,000 between 1982 and 1984 on cocaine, alcohol and gambling. He once bragged about hitting the lanes one evening and scoring in the high 200s after spending the day drinking full-strength Long Island iced tea
A Long Island iced tea or Long Island ice tea is a type of cocktail typically made with vodka, tequila, light rum, triple sec, gin, and a splash of cola, which gives the drink the same amber hue as iced tea.
The drink has a much higher alcohol ...
s.[ He entered rehab in March 1984, ending what his famous father called "eight years of hell". Though Weber says he never used cocaine again, he fell off the wagon multiple times with drinking.
Despite Weber's talent, he was not popular with his bowling peers and was even denied Player of the Year honors in ]1987
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...
despite winning the Tournament of Champions and leading the tour in earnings; the award was instead given to Marshall Holman
Marshall Holman (born September 29, 1954) is an American sports broadcaster and retired professional ten-pin bowler. He was known for his flamboyant, fiery demeanor and his success on the PBA Tour from the mid-1970s to the end of the 1980s. He i ...
. 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. He went through a three-season stretch (1994–96) without winning a title, and he failed to make a championship round appearance during the entire 1995 season. At the same time, the PBA Tour itself was in decline and was nearing insolvency.
Weber began a slow turnaround in 1997, for which he gave much of the credit to third wife Tracy. "Tracy is the best thing that ever happened to me," he said. "She keeps me focused and keeps me loose." Weber won two titles in the 1997 season, and established a then-career high in earnings with over $181,000.
In 2000, the PBA Tour was sold to three former Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
executives; Weber was not on the tour during this transitional phase, as he was still serving a suspension for "conduct unbecoming a professional" given by the former PBA leadership due to a late 1999 incident at a Bay City, Michigan
Bay City is a city and county seat of Bay County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located near the base of the Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 34,932, and it is the principal city of the Bay City Metropol ...
pro-am 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. In one of the three victories, at the Great Lakes Classic in ]Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...
, Weber rolled a nationally televised 299 game, leaving a 4-pin standing on his final shot. In an interview during the season, Weber remarked:
Weber's attitude on television has given him a reputation as a brash "action bowler," which some critics view as unsportsmanlike. After icing a 289–279 victory in a televised match against Michael Haugen Jr., who was looking for his first PBA win at the 2001 Greater Louisville Open, Weber walked back on the approach toward Haugen and shouted, "He ain't getting his first one against me, no way!" During the 2010 One-A-Day Dick Weber Open, he became frustrated after hearing the sound a photographer's camera click just before letting go of the ball, and verbally told them to refrain from flashing the camera during his approach. In the 2012 U.S. Open finals, he repeatedly confronted a young audience member whom he believed was intentionally distracting him on his shots. He eventually won the 2012 event, his unprecedented fifth U.S. Open title, getting a strike on the fill shot of the tenth frame to defeat Mike Fagan by one pin, 215–214. Weber exploded in a burst of rage and excitement:
Gary Thorne
Gary F. Thorne (born June 9, 1948) is an American sportscaster. He was the lead play-by-play announcer for Baltimore Orioles games on MASN from 2007 to 2020. He has also worked for ESPN and ABC, including National Hockey League, Major League ...
, (ESPN announcer): Strike to claim it, a strike to claim it, and... HE GOT IT!
Weber: YES, GOD DAMMIT, YES!!! THAT IS RIGHT, I DID IT! HAT'SNUMBER FIVE, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! THAT'S RIGHT! (Turns to audience) WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, I AM! GET IT RIGHT!!
The video footage of Weber's reaction to his win went viral on the Internet and made the Top 10 on ESPN's "SportsNation 101 Celebration Fails" list. His "Who do you think you are, I am!" quote ended up on T-shirts. Weber later explained he intended to say, "Who do you think you are rooting against me? I am the man in this tournament!". Weber clarified his comments were directed towards a young heckler who was jeering him throughout the tournament, at times during Weber's approach.
After taking time to cool down, Weber was humble in his post-tournament interview. When the announcer stated that Pete had just passed his father and Don Carter in career U.S. Open titles, Weber replied, "I'll never say I'm better than them. They paved the way for us to be here. It was an honor and a privilege to join them when I won my fourth U.S. Open, and it's even more of an honor to be the first one to win five.""St. Louis bowler Pete Weber wins record 5th U.S. Open."
Article at STLtoday.com on February 27, 2012.
In response to critics, Weber said in a 2016 interview:
Legacy
While there are divided opinions on Pete Weber's PBA legacy, the majority conclude that he had a positive impact on resurrecting the sport's popularity. PBA Commissioner Tom Clark stated that when Weber made the finals telecast, ratings went up.[ Hall of Famer ]Norm Duke
Norm Duke (born March 25, 1964) is an American professional bowler currently competing on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour and the PBA50 Tour. He has won 40 titles on the PBA Tour, including seven major championships, and another ...
, who also started on Tour while in his teens, was quoted in 2021 saying, "Pete can reach out through a television, grab you by the neck, turn your head toward him and say. 'Oh no, no, no. You might want to watch this.' And people do. It speaks to his entertainment value."[ Mike Fagan, who once noted that Pete was alienating the very fans the sport wanted to attract, stated years later, "He has been the most noteworthy person in the sport for 40 years. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. But he made bowling fun again."][
]
Weber's career PBA Tour titles
PBA Tour Titles
Major championships are in bold text.
# 1982 Greater Hartford Open, Windsor Locks, Conn.
# 1982 City of Roses Open, Portland, Ore.
# 1984 Aqua Fest Mr. Gatti's Open, Austin, Texas.
# 1984 Molson Golden Bowling Challenge, Ontario, Canada.
# 1985 Showboat Invitational, Las Vegas, Nev.
# 1985 Lite Beer Classic, Miami, Fla.
# 1985 Budweiser Open, Taylor, Mich.
# 1986 St. Louis Open, St. Louis, Mo.
# 1986 Japan Cup, Tokyo, Japan.
# 1987 Tournament of Champions, Akron, Ohio.
# 1988 U.S. Open, Atlantic City, N.J.
# 1989 PBA National Championship, Toledo, Ohio.
# 1989 Kessler Open, Dublin, Calif.
# 1990 La Mode Classic, Green Bay, Wis.
# 1990 Toyota Classic, St. Louis, Mo.
# 1991 Fair Lanes Open, Baltimore, Md.
# 1991 Johnny Petraglia Open, N. Brunswick, N.J.
# 1991 U.S. Open, Indianapolis, Ind.
# 1992 Touring Players Championship, Indianapolis, Ind.
# 1993 IOF Foresters Bowling for Miracles Open, Ontario, Canada.
# 1993 Oronamin C Japan Cup, Tokyo, Japan.
# 1997 Tucson Open, Tucson, Ariz.
# 1997 Comfort Inn Classic, Tampa, Fla.
# 1998 PBA National Championship, Toledo, Ohio.
# 2000 Parker Bohn III Empire State Open, Latham, N.Y.
# 2001-02 PBA Great Lakes Classic, Grand Rapids, Mich.
# 2001-02 PBA Greater Louisville Open, Louisville, Ky.
# 2001-02 PBA Columbia 300 Tar Heel Open, Burlington, N.C.
# 2002-03 PBA Tar Heel Open, Burlington, N.C.
# 2003-04 PBA Medford Open, Medford, Ore.
# 2003-04 U.S. Open, Fountain Valley, Calif.
# 2005-06 BowlersParadise.com Classic, Hammond, Ind.
# 2006-07 Etonic Championship, Cheektowaga, N.Y.
# 2006-07 U.S. Open, North Brunswick, N.J.
# 2009-10 Lumber Liquidators Marathon Open, Baltimore, MD.
# 2011-12 U.S. Open, North Brunswick, N.J.
# 2012-13 Tournament of Champions, Indianapolis, IN.
PBA50 Tour Titles
# 2013 USBC Senior Masters, Las Vegas, NV.
# 2013 PBA50 Treasure Island Resort & Casino Open, Welch, Minn.
# 2014 PBA50 Pro Bowl West Fort Wayne Classic, Fort Wayne, Ind.
# 2015 Senior U.S. Open, Las Vegas, NV.
# 2016 PBA50 UnitedHealthcare Sun Bowl In The Villages, The Villages, Fla.
# 2016 PBA50 Tour's Mooresville Ford Open, Mooresville, N.C.
# 2016 PBA50 Johnny Petraglia BVL Open, Farmingdale, N.Y.
# 2016 Senior U.S. Open, Las Vegas, NV.
# 2016 USBC Senior Masters, Las Vegas, NV.
# 2016 PBA50 South Shore Open, Hammond, Ind.
# 2017 PBA50 DeHayes Insurance Group Championship, Fort Wayne, Ind.
# 2021 PBA50 National Championship, The Villages, Fla.
# 2021 PBA50 Granville Financial Open, Aberdeen, N.C.
References
External links
PBA Tour - Pete Weber biography page
(copy archived January 30, 2018)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weber, Pete
American ten-pin bowling players
Sportspeople from St. Louis County, Missouri
1962 births
Living people