BCA Insider - Holiday Edition 2021

JEANETTE LEE

“THE BLACK WIDOW” RECOGNIZED WITH BCA PRESIDENT’S AWARD

By BCA Insider Staff The Billiard Congress of America’s board of directors presented the 2020 BCA President’s Award to Jeanette “The Black Widow” Lee. “I’m extremely honored to receive this prestigious award,” Lee says. “I have always worked hard to be both a serious player and a great role model. To be recognized like this means so much to me. I really hope to continue in this sport and stay deserving of this honor.”

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Lee is one of most recognizable pool players in the world.

In 1993, Lee set out to become the No. 1 player in the world, and did so by winning threeWPBA ClassicTour events, the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship and the WPBA Nationals in 1994.

Those achievements led her to Player-of-the-Year honors from both Billiards Digest and Pool & Billiard Magazine.

Lee took home seven more ClassicTour titles from 1995-1999, and added two ESPN titles to her resume – the Tournament of Champions and the Ultimate Shootout. In 2001, she won the gold medal at the World Games in Akita, Japan and spent the next few years racking up wins in tournaments such as the WPBA Florida Classic and BCA Open Championship.

“Her early history tells us that she was determined to play at a high level and she never quit even when she had reached that level of play,” says Ivan Lee, BCA’s chairman. “There was always another challenge to face and she would turn toward them and not away from them. Her willingness to take on the challenges and continue to strive for excellence has made her a role model for people in general, not just within the billiard community.”

In addition to her stellar play, Lee is also a great promoter and marketer, and her charisma has helped her create a business empire that has resulted in untold amounts of exposure for both her and the sport.

“You can’t take away that she has performed as a top competitor and holds many titles as a result of her ability,” says Ivan Lee, BCA chairman. “However, I think that Jeanette has brought a real personality to the sport and that personality has energized parts of the sport and actually transcended our sport and touched people who might otherwise not have noticed billiards.”

What makes her accomplishments even more amazing is that she has battled scoliosis, arthritis, bursitis and more, which resulted in Lee undergoing more than a dozen surgical procedures. In 2021, Lee is currently battling stage 4 ovarian cancer that has metastasized throughout her body.

“Here is a pillar of the billiard community who has brought a ton of attention to the sport and has performed at top levels throughout her career and at times through great personal difficulties,” Ivan Lee says. “Faced with the situation that she BCAINSIDER.COM | 43