Dick Weber

Bowler

• Born: December 23, 1929
• Birthplace: Indianapolis, Indiana
• Died: February 13, 2005
• Place of death: Florissant, Missouri

Sport: Bowling

Early Life

Richard Anthony “Dick” Weber was born on December 23, 1929, in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was the son of Carl John Weber, a gas station attendant and bowling alley manager, and Marjorie Wheeler Weber, a schoolteacher. Bowling was a popular sport during the Depression, and Dick often went to the bowling alley with his father, who bowled in a weekly league. When Dick was ten, his family joined a family league so that Dick could bowl with them.

Dick attended Indianapolis Technical High School, where he played basketball and baseball. He also spent a considerable amount of time at the local bowling alley. He took a job as a pinsetter, and when he was not setting pins, he was bowling. He graduated from high school in 1948, earning letters in both basketball and baseball.

After graduation, Dick married Juanita “Neet” Dirk and took a job in a post office sorting mail. To supplement his salary from the post office, he began to work at night as a professional bowling shop operator.

The Road to Excellence

Dick gained experience bowling in local leagues in Indianapolis for several years while he continued to work in the post office during the day and the bowling alley at night. He was small, weighing about 125 pounds, but he soon grew to 5 feet 9 inches and 140 pounds. His increased size enabled him to establish an average of 200 pins per game.

Dick’s appearance in professional bowling came rather suddenly, even though he had worked to improve his game for many years. In 1954, he was competing in Chicago in an all-star tournament. On the lane next to him was the famous professional team known as the “Budweiser Five.” The captain of the team, Don Carter, was impressed with Dick’s bowling and invited him to join the team. Dick immediately accepted the offer.

To compete with the famous team, Dick had to travel from Indianapolis to St. Louis, and he had no money for the trip. A longtime friend and local bowling lane owner Carl Hindel came to his rescue. He lent him a loud, pin-striped suit with wide lapels and gave him money to make the trip. With his wife and small baby, named Richard, Dick drove to St. Louis to join Carter, Ray Bluth, Whitey Harris, Pat Patterson, and Tom Hennessey for his first professional competition.

The Emerging Champion

Dick replaced Don McLaren and had a wonderful first year with the “Buds.” He teamed with Bluth to win the first of four national doubles titles and helped his team capture the Bowling Proprietors Association of America (BPAA) national title in 1955.

Dick’s brilliant first year began a career that extended more than thirty years. The Budweiser team won the BPAA national title in 1956, 1958, 1959, 1961, and 1965 and the BPAA all-star championship in 1962, 1963, 1965, and 1966. With Bluth, he won the national doubles title in 1960, 1961, and 1964.

In 1961 and 1962, Dick accomplished an amazing feat—he had a string of seven Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) victories out of nine competitions that included the nation’s best bowlers. He was the American Bowling Congress (ABC) tournament-average leader and was chosen bowler of the year by the Bowling Writers Association of America (BWAA) in 1961. In the same year, he was also the year’s top money-winner, earning nearly $100,000. By the age of thirty-one, he had won eighteen major tournaments and had earned a major reputation.

Dick had his best year in 1965. He averaged 211 pins per game for 960 games and was the ABC tournament-average leader for the second consecutive year. During the Houston Open, he became the first professional bowler to roll three perfect games in one tournament. For his accomplishments in the first half of the 1960’s, Dick was named the bowler of the year by the BWAA three times, in 1961, 1963, and 1965.

Continuing the Story

In 1970, Dick became the youngest man ever to be elected into the ABC Hall of Fame. In 1975, he became one of the eight charter members of the PBA Hall of Fame.

Beginning in the 1970’s, Dick competed in only half of the major tournaments on the tour. In 1976, however, his earnings passed the $500,000 mark, and he ranked first in all-time winnings. In 1977, he won his 26th professional tournament to place second on the all-time PBA list.

In addition to touring as a professional, Dick became part owner of a St. Louis bowling establishment and served as an adviser for American Machine and Foundry (AMF). His interest in bowling also led him to give exhibitions and clinics and appear on a television series dealing with bowling techniques. He also wrote articles and books on bowling. He became the president of the PBA in 1969-1970 and was elected to the Indiana and St. Louis Halls of Fame.

Dick was a popular star, and his career extended over an unusually long period of time. His long career was the result of his ability to adapt to the changing conditions of the game. When he first began his career, lacquer was used on the lanes, and the big hook was the most successful delivery. Years later, lacquer was replaced with harder finishes, which required a different style of delivery. Dick adopted a straighter, softer pitch, which allowed him to continue to be a champion. Dick continued to win tournaments well into the 1980’s. He won the Showboat Invitational tournament for three consecutive years from 1986 to 1988. In 1987, he was named professional bowling host at the Showboat Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Dick and his wife, Juanita, had four children. Dick’s son Pete also became a successful, hall-of-fame bowler. After his retirement, Dick continued an active lifestyle by playing golf. He died in 2005.

Summary

In 1955, Dick Weber’s first year as a professional bowler, Dick helped the Budweisers to the first of six national team titles and four all-star championships. With Bluth, he won the first of four national doubles titles in the same year. He was named bowler of the year three times by the Bowling Writers Association of America. Bowler’s Journal chose him ten times to the all-American first team and five times to the second team. He was selected to the ABC Hall of Fame in 1970, and, in 1975, became a charter member of the PBA Hall of Fame. He was voted the second-greatest bowler of all time by sportswriters in a 1970 poll. He established a 202-pin lifetime average, rolled eighteen sanctioned 300-pin games, and rolled high-pin series scores of 815, 814, 804, and 800 during his long and distinguished career.

Bibliography

Bechtel, Mark, and Stephen Cannella. “Striking Presence.” Sports Illustrated 102, no. 8 (February 21, 2005): 19.

Porter, David L., ed. Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: Basketball and Other Indoor Sports. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1989.

Weber, Dick. Bowling. New York: Cornerstone Library, 1971.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. The Champion’s Guide to Bowling. Rev. ed. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1981.

Weber, Dick, and Roland Alexander. Weber on Bowling. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1981.