The Penland Era: Bachelorette Contestant Peter Weber (Pilot Pete) and Being a Great Guy

Before he became the fan favorite on ABC’s “The Bachelorette”, Pete Weber—he was Pete back then, not Peter—attended Baylor University. I was fortunate to know him.

I became friends with Pete because I had Madden, and Pete loved the Seattle Seahawks more than anything. We played on a floor that was immortalized in a song that featured RGIII:

Pete was always someone you could rely upon. He gave quality advice and never put others down. I played football with him quite a bit. And despite the gap in skill between Pete (good) and me (bad) being the equivalent of the gap between him and Luke P. on this season of the show—he found a way to keep everyone involved in the game.

Back then Pete spoke endlessly about his dream to become a pilot. I spent my time talking about how ludicrous it was that Chick-fil-A kept the drink machines behind the register because it slowed everything down when you needed a refill, and it just felt weird trying to half-cut the ordering line to gulp down more soda. Pete was man pretty though, so he didn’t spend his time contemplating how to drink more Coke. Instead, he just kept talking about being a pilot. I hoped he’d become one, but reality catches up with people in college. Not too many people from that pre-FDA regulated Four Loko era ended up living out their dreams.

Pete’s dream of being a pilot led him back to California after freshman year. I haven’t seen him in almost a decade now. But when I saw him on television, the only difference I saw in Pete is that he’s now the pilot he’d talked so much about becoming. And along the way, it looks like he’s stayed the same. Pete’s going to deal with being famous now; he has 325,000 followers on Instagram. If a decade’s taught us anything about him though, it’s this: he’ll be that same great person he’s always been.