About the Production
Producer Background
Bill McCorkle is not in “show business” and not in the bowling business. He has been a Real Estate Broker and Developer for 36 years. Bill joined the PBA in 1972 after defeating current Bowler of the Year, the late Don Johnson in Akron, Ohio and winning $10,000. He is a 3-time PBA regional champion and is a member of the Greater Columbus B.A. and Ohio Bowling Hall of Fame.
When asked about this project, McCorkle had this response: “Dick Weber was a special man. The longer that you knew him, the respect and admiration just grew. The more that you watched him, the greater he became. He befriended me at one of my first PBA events and we were friends for over 30 years. This was not a unique or unusual relationship because Dick was friends with everyone that he ever met.
The remarkable part to me was that he was “The Best Ever” and yet he took time to converse and be polite to all levels of bowlers. I was just a guy that bowled regional events and made it to a few national tournaments each year and yet he treated me as an equal.”
In 1999, McCorkle wrote and produced a video called “Bowlers Are Funny People.” This sale of this video was exclusively to raise money for Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Dick Weber volunteered to be in this video and performed a couple of funny skits. When completed, McCorkle sent 12 complementary copies of the tape to Dick Weber. In typical Weber fashion, Dick replied with a personal check for the tapes made out to Children’s Hospital.
Inspiration for this project
In August, 2003, Bill McCorkle’s Dad passed away. It was very touching for him to receive a personal handwritten note from Dick Weber notifying him that he had made a contribution to the Bowling Hall of Fame in memory of his father, Bill.
Something unexpected happened when Dick Weber passed away on Valentine’s Day of 2004: McCorkle started getting calls from individuals that wanted to purchase copies of the old video made in 1999 to view the Dick Weber portion.
“That tape was a learning project for me. It included mostly footage of central Ohio bowlers and even the humor was irrelevant for people from other areas. Frankly, I was embarrassed that somebody would have to sift through 90 minutes of that video to get to the good part with Weber,” McCorkle said.
McCorkle knew he could do better and wanted to do something special for the Weber family. What better way than to produce a new video documentary of Dick Weber.
Pilgrimage to St. Louis
The central location of St. Louis made it the perfect site to hold this event. Not only does the Weber family live there, but it is also the site of the Bowling Hall of Fame.
McCorkle organized the affair with the prospect of having 80 attendees. In hindsight, he could have filled Busch Stadium with the friends and admirers of Dick Weber. Bowlers made almost a pilgrimage-like event, traveling from all parts of the country.
Fred Schreyer, the PBA commissioner flew in from Seattle. Parker Bohn flew in from New Jersey. Barry Asher, Len Nicholson, Glenn Allison and John Jowdy all came from California. Ernie Schlegel came from Vancouver, Washington. Bill Chrisman flew in from Utah. Mike Durbin and Bill Lillard came from Texas. A large group traveled from Florida it included: Dave and Judy Soutar, Bob Chamberlain, Billy Hardwick, Larry Lichstein and Walter Ray Williams. Bob Hart flew in from Atlanta. Jimmy Schroeder drove over 2,200 miles round-trip from upstate New York to be there. Roy Buckley flew in from Ohio and George Pappas came from North Carolina. Mike Aulby drove from Indiana. Carmen Salvino, Tom Kouros and Jim Dressel drove in from Chicago. And it goes on and on….
It’s amazing that this large group of individuals put their personal lives on-hold and made tremendous effort to come to St. Louis at their own expense in honor of their friend.
Source of Material
The Weber family had complete input; they provided old pictures from scrapbooks and even home movies. Juanita Weber had full “veto power.” It was vital to have the family involvement and approval for this documentary. Old footage from ABC Sports, ESPN and the Archives of the Bowling Hall of Fame were included. There was no large budget or sponsors; Bill McCorkle hired the production company and personally paid for the expenses related to the production of this video.
Summary
“We worked incredibly hard on this project and are extremely pleased with the final product.
Dick Weber was so important to our sport that he deserves to be honored and remembered. This video will provide a wonderful keepsake for the persons that knew him, but it also serves as a history lesson for the youngsters in other generations that never got the chance to see or meet Dick.”