Bowling Accomplishments
Weber moved to Florissant, Missouri, in 1955 to form a bowling team called the Budweisers (after the popular American beer brand). Other members of the Budweisers included Ray Bluth, Don Carter, Tom Hennessey and Pat Patterson. The team established a long-standing 5-man ABC league series record in 1958.
In 1958, Weber became a founding member of the Professional Bowlers Association, which he subsequently dominated. Weber won his first PBA title in the inaugural 1959 season, and two of the three PBA events held that year. He went on to win 10 of the first 22 PBA tournaments, including winning seven titles in 1961 alone. During his career, he won titles in 30 PBA Tour events and six PBA Senior Tour events (amassing a total of 36 PBA titles in both categories). He was PBA Player of the Year in 1965, and earned BPAA National Bowler of the Year honors three times (in 1961, 1963 and 1965). His 30 regular tour wins place him in seventh-place on the all-time PBA wins list. In 1999, he became one of five people to knock down over 100,000 pins in the USBC tournament. In 2002, Weber also became the first player to win at least one PBA title in six decades (counting PBA Senior events). Bowling mostly in an era of low prize money, he still managed to cash over $930,000 in PBA earnings.
Weber was also known as a tireless ambassador of his sport, and rarely passed up an opportunity to promote the sport of bowling. One promotion had him bowling the highest (altitude) game ever in "Operation AstroBowl," which took place on a Boeing 707 on January 7, 1964. This was a joint campaign for American Airlines' Cargo Service. The aircraft used was an all-cargo Boeing 707 with a single AMF lane installed in the main cargo hold. The flight was from New York to Washington's Dulles Airport. Weber also appeared several times on Late Show with David Letterman. He usually bowled into strange items, as requested by viewers. A lane was set up outside the studio and Weber would roll a ball into things like TV sets or eggs.
League bowling in the United States had its heyday in the 1960s and early 1970s, partly due to the influence of pros like Weber and Don Carter. Several PBA pros like Johnny Petraglia claimed to be inspired by Dick Weber: "The main reason I went on Tour was Dick Weber. When I was 14, I saw him do an exhibition in Madison Square Garden. When I left I remember saying to myself: 'I want to be like Dick Weber.'"
Both Dick and his son, Pete Weber, are members of the United States Bowling Congress Hall of Fame and the PBA Hall of Fame. In 1999 Dick Weber was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame. The PBA ranked him 3rd on its 2008 list of "50 Greatest Players of the Last 50 Years." Only all-time titles leaders Earl Anthony and Walter Ray Williams, Jr. ranked higher.
On February 13, 2005, Richard Anthony Weber died in Florissant, MO at age 75. On the day of his death, Weber had just returned from a USBC meeting (United States Bowling Congress) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He showed no prior sign of ill-health but experienced serious breathing problems that evening and paramedics were unable to revive him. The underlying cause of death was not known, but was ultimately due to respiratory failure. Dick Weber was survived by his wife Juanita, one daughter and three sons including Dick Weber Junior.
Read more about this topic: Dick Weber