Every sport needs heroes and villains, and professional bowling is no different with Hall of Famer and viral sensation Pete Weber providing some of sport’s most viral quotes and clips, which have even been used by Kansas City Chiefs poster boy Patrick Mahomes after February’s Super Bowl win.
Weber’s love for bowling stems from dad Dick Weber, who was a bowling superstar in his own right and founder of the professional Bowlers Association. The 60-year-old started “pushing a ball down a lane” at two, and just over a decade later, Weber was dismantling rivals in the Men’s League at 14.
What followed was nothing short of greatness. Weber claimed 37 PBA Tour titles, including ten major championships, and another 13 titles on the PBA50 Tour. But it was also Weber’s maverick, chirpy and rebellious personality that set him apart from the rest.
Weber starred in numerous social media viral clips and quotes down the years, but his best came in 2012 when he beat Michael Fagan to claim his fifth US Open title, bursting into a fit of victorious rage. “Who do you think you are? I am!” Weber shouted after nailing a strike to claim victory.
Weber, in fact, misspoke in the infamous gloat aimed at teenage Fagan fans, who he says “were kind of rooting a little bit too loud”. Speaking exclusively to Mirror Sport, Weber said: “Well, there were a couple of kids between 12,13,14 or right around that age, and they were Michael Fagan fans.
"And they were kind of rooting a little bit too loud, so when I threw the strike to beat Michael, I wanted to say ‘Who do you think you are… in my house?’ - you can fill in the blank there - I wanted to say this is my house, my tournament but it came out ‘Who do you think you are? I am!’ which became a famous quote.”
Weber’s most famous outburst travelled far and wide, garnering tens, if not hundreds of millions of views online, and Chiefs poster boy Mahomes tweeted it after helping his team claim their third-ever Super Bowl with a 38-35 win over the Philadelphia Eagles, much to the bowling sensation’s delight.
“It got on all the TV shows, all the sports shows, and actually in the last three months I did a podcast with Barstool Sports, Patrick Mahomes has used it right after he won the Super Bowl, so that was kind of an honour for me for him to use it, and it’s been used a couple of times in wrestling,” said Chiefs fan Weber with a smile. “Anybody that knows me knows that I’m a massive WWE fan, so it’s popped up on there a couple times. It’s kind of neat that this stuff that happened 11 years ago is still happening today.”
Weber was a good trash talker, earning the title as the bad boy of bowling, a title he gladly lives up to. “Before me, there was Marshall Holman,” Weber added. “They said he was the bad guy and when he retired from bowling I kind of decided I was going to take it over. I have no problem doing it, actually I love being the bad guy. You got your heroes, your bad guy - you’ve got to have one and as I say, I don’t mind doing it one bit.”
With the bad boy persona comes a lot of fans but also a lot of haters, and when Weber retired from full-time bowling in 2021, he delivered one final, swift mic drop. Before bowling his last frame, he said: “I appreciate all the fans I have, hate me or love me, you watched. That’s all you could do. Thank you.” Weber then proceeded to effortlessly drop all ten pins followed by an applause.
Known for his high backswing and the side rotation he puts on the bowling ball, Weber says the haters can’t get enough of him. “With all the bad things that get said about me on social media… ‘I hate him, I’m never going to watch him again’, that’s a bunch of c**p,” Weber declared from his Missouri home. “Love me or hate me, you’re going to watch to see what I do next, period. That’s all I can say… ‘Yeah, we’re not watching today’, yeah you are because you want to see what I’m gonna do.”
