Lee is, without a doubt, a rare athlete and person, said George. "Jeanette showed me such kindness over and above the several times I had the privilege to play against her while attending a trade show in LV in 2013," Tony Battista wrote. "I remember a couple of shots in our games but I never forgot her kindness." "These little acts of kindness from Jeanette have never been forgotten. "Just wanted to return Jeanette's generosity for her donating signed memorabilia for Ben Davis High School fundraiser for One City Indy's 'Fight to Unite,'" wrote Roy Streater. But most messages are about Lee's giving personality and care toward all the people she encountered. She is being called an icon, a fierce and determined player and gorgeous. Her goodwill and selflessness throughout the years is showing up in a big way on her GoFundMe page, as well wishes pour in. I was in a big white cast all around my upper body." I can tell you I was in the most pain you can imagine. "All they told me was they were going to make my back straight. "When I was 13, I didn't know what the heck was going on," Lee told IndyStar in 1999. Those who play pool, including Lee, said that is barely enough to make a clean break on the table. But the rods also meant she could lean forward at no greater than an 80-degree angle. One procedure involved implanting two 18-inch metal rods in her back to help relieve the pressure on her spine. Since then, she has had dozens of surgeries. "She was superstar material." A cultural iconīefore she was a teen, Lee was diagnosed with scoliosis, a debilitating back condition that resulted in a curved and deformed spine. "There is a saying in our business, 'If the client recruits you, you don't want them,' but Jeanette turned out to be massively different," he said. And by her intelligence and passion for the game.īy the time she left, he had agreed to negotiate deals that came her way, but no proactive work. No one wanted to represent them, especially not him. But when Lee walked in to his office that day, he was astounded by her raw beauty and elegance. But it was so hard to get any traction promoting pool players, George said. She was pretty, Swedish and really good at pool. George had a previous billiards client, Ewa Mataya, whom the Boston Globe described as a "leggy blonde" in 1993. She also had a rare combination of unbelievable talent, beauty and allure playing a sport reserved, before then, mostly for men. "Jeanette saw the table like no one else, the movement of the balls, the geometric patterns," said George. She decided then, she would try this sport for herself.
She thought she'd be an elementary school teacher.īut at 18, she walked into a dark, smoky pool hall in New York City and saw an older man make a clean shot into the corner pocket of a billiard table. Playing pool was the farthest thing from her mind at that age, she told IndyStar in 1999. The daughter of Korean immigrants, Lee spent her childhood in Brooklyn. And she can't make commitments because, depending on the moment, she may not feel well enough to follow through.īut Tuesday, George reminisced on the life and career of Lee, who fell in love with the geometry of pool the first time she picked up a stick. Through George, Lee declined IndyStar's request for an interview. More than 2,500 people have donated more than $185,000 to Lee's legacy fund, including a $10,000 donation from Tony Stewart. "Jeanette's biggest concern was she was going to leave and leave her kids in a bad way." "It became very clear when she got the diagnosis that the biggest thing that worried her was her daughters," said George. Lee has three girls, Cheyenne, 16, Chloe, 11, and Savannah, 10.
She is a single mom, divorced from George Breedlove, known as "The Flamethrower" on the men's pool tour. Lee, who left Indiana in 2008 to move to Florida, owns an American Poolplayers Association franchise in Tampa. But backed by her will to live, modern medical treatments may significantly prolong her life." Left untreated, this stage and type of cancer can be swiftly terminal. "Her prognosis is currently unknown and depends upon her body’s response to the first phase of treatment she is now undergoing. "It is with heavy hearts that we share that our friend and billiards icon, Jeanette Lee, has been diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer," reads the GoFundMe page set up for Lee to help with medical expenses and care for her three daughters.