Talent to Spare at 61 : Dick Weber Will Take a 211 Average Into Pacific Senior Event

In bowling, the name and smiling face of Dick Weber are among the most recognized. His career in big-time play spans five decades.

At 61, he looks much the same as he did in 1956 when he first became an All-American. The thick, golden hair, always neatly combed, has turned snowy white, but at 5 feet 9 1/2 he is a trim 150 pounds, only 10 more than he weighed then.

By the year 2000, when a bowler of the century is selected, Weber will be high in the running, according to his peers.

“Weber? An ageless wonder,” Don Carter says.

Adds Earl Anthony: “Accomplishment and longevity judge greatness. Weber has so much of both.”

And from Glenn Allison: “When asked greatest-bowler questions, I always seem to mention Weber first.”

Weber is here from St. Louis to bowl in the four-day $55,000 Pacific Senior PBA tournament, starting today at Cal Bowl in Lakewood.

Four greatest-ever national polls by bowling writers have been taken. In 1950, Hank Marino was chosen bowler of the first half-century. In the 1960s Carter topped a poll. Weber topped a 1970s poll, and Anthony came out on top in a 1980s poll.

Asked how he can still endure sliding to the line swinging a ball up to 16 pounds more than 700 times a tournament and still average 211 on the senior tour, Weber answered:

“It isn’t always easy. The legs can tire, and if they do, it puts you off and out of contention. I feel as strong as ever, but I know my reflexes on judging distance,direction and speed are less today. Yet I continue to score well.”

Weber said he believes “good eating habits, looking at the brighter sides of life and always being on the move” have kept him in good physical condition.

“I don’t work out in a gym, but I’ve always kept on bowling without letup because I think if you once quit, you likely will never be able to get back in the winning groove,” he said.

Weber largely bases his bowling longevity on an “easy style of ball delivery.”

“Mine is a straight, nothing-fancy, down-and-in delivery with a small hook at the end,” he said. “It has gotten me through the most drastic changes in lane conditions and equipment over the years. Had I turned to cranking the ball, I’d not have lasted. But then, you need a power ball of some kind to stay alive on the national tour today.”

Weber was 8 and was setting pins by hand when he took up bowling in his native Indianapolis.

With a 258-258-259--775 series in 1958, he anchored the team that set the unbroken world five-man record of 3,858. He has won 36 national championships during a 53-year career.

Weber also has been voted All-American 16 times and bowler of the year three times.

But according to Weber, of all his honors, including his 1970 induction into the National Bowling Hall of Fame, none compares to the 1982 thrill of watching his son, Pete, win his first pro title.

Pete has gone on to win 15 more titles and ranks among the best in bowling today. Another son, Rich, is tournament director on the Senior PBA Tour.

Dick, Pete, Rich, another son John--a bowling center proprietor--and daughter Paula all have bowled 300 games. Juanita, Dick’s wife, “is satisfied to sit back and observe it all,” Weber said. “She’s our No. 1 fan.”

Weber can become the first bowler to win pro titles in each of five decades if he wins at Cal Bowl. To achieve this, he will have to beat 159 50-and-over rivals. They include Allison and other Hall of Famers Dave Soutar, Don Johnson, Wayne Zahn, Les Zykes, Teata Semiz and Bill Bunetta, the oldest in the field at 71.