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02-11-2005, 07:32 AM
Aura of the 'Black Widow' means big bucks for Lee
By Travis Sawchik, Rocky Mount Telegram
Friday, February 11, 2005
After Allison Fisher and Karen Corr finished dominating their first-round matches in the Carolina Women's Billiard Classic Thursday, they were met by a sparse number of Star Trek-like cult followers armed with Sharpie makers.
The respective No. 1 and No. 2 female billiards players in the world quickly signed the gleaming billiard balls and cue sticks and vanished through the players' exit at Nash Community College's makeshift billiards arena.
A quiet experience filled with humility; hardly a Jeanette Lee moment.
When Lee finalized her opponents' first-round drubbing, the tall, attractive Asian descendent first met with her agent, signed a document and advanced to a simple table adorned with T-shirts and Lee "Black Widow” posters featuring her dark, razor-sharp eyes and glossy black hair.
Wrapped in her familiar tight-fitting black clothing, she took up post in a prearranged autograph booth, while the public address announcer notified fans that Lee's autograph was now for sale.
The catch was those waiting in line — holding out money and eyeing the Lee pinball game in the lobby — were waiting on the world's third-ranked player.
But her looks, personality, presence and talent are ubiquitous assets, transcending her sport, her ranking and reaching into Nash County.
"There are certain personalities that have a spotlight that follows them around; she's one of them,” said Tom George, an Octagon senior marketing officer and quasi-agent to Lee. "I was down in Charlotte at the Wachovia championship ... I walk in the players' lounge and Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk, Vijay Singh (and) Davis Love are all crowded around the television watching her É and they are going to be playing that day.”
She has endorsed whiskey, Gatorade, cue sticks and made a television appearance on HBO's Arliss. This March, Bravo will air a celebrity billiards show that features Lee as its host.
If an American knows of only one billiards player, chances are its Lee.
"I don't think you can create that,” Lee, a Brooklyn native, said of her aura. "You can try all you want, it's just something I've heard people say about me.
"I always want to go out there look my best, feel my best and act my best, but what it ends up being is what it is.”
What it is, according to her agent, is her role as the Anna Kournikova of billiards.
George says her ability to draw the spotlight has earned her a "healthy living.” And she is not the only Octagon client holding the sex-symbol card. Soccer's Mia Hamm and softball's Jennie Finch also employ the company to represent them.
"Jeanette's third in the world; do you think anyone cares?” said George of her slight fall from the top. "She does É but she's been in the public eye so long it would probably take the public five years to know she wasn't.”
But the endorsements — due to looks, personality or both — come to Lee as she uses billiards as a springboard to becoming a mainstream marketers' tool. All the while, other talented members of the WPBA simply cannot make a living by playing alone.
So does it bother Corr that even though she is ranked higher than Lee she does not reap many economic rewards?
"No, not really,” said the Ireland native. "I'm still new, Jeanette has been playing the game a long time É It doesn't bother me.”
Lee, in her early 30s, began playing billiards when she was 18 while bartending in New York City. She has put too much of her energy into fighting for her financial success to worry about eating cake while others scavenge for bread.
"In their world, where they live, people know them,” Lee said of her peers. "But how much work do they do outside their world?
"At the beginning there was resentment, but at this point they know how hard I work and what I've built, and what I need to do.”
She has worked hard. Becoming the world's top ranked player in 1994 despite a childhood condition of scoliosis.
She also battled Octagon, which had denied her a total of nine times before she flew to its Washington D.C. headquarters and blew them away with her stage presence like she has done on ESPN, in pool halls and again Thursday at Nash Community College.
And as her star is burgeoning it might even help the popularity of billiards, though George says that's not his job.
"Rising tides lift all boats,” George says.
And there was little confusion in Nash County Thursday as to who controlled the waters.
Travis Sawchik can be reached at 407-9950 or tsawchik@coxnews.com
By Travis Sawchik, Rocky Mount Telegram
Friday, February 11, 2005
After Allison Fisher and Karen Corr finished dominating their first-round matches in the Carolina Women's Billiard Classic Thursday, they were met by a sparse number of Star Trek-like cult followers armed with Sharpie makers.
The respective No. 1 and No. 2 female billiards players in the world quickly signed the gleaming billiard balls and cue sticks and vanished through the players' exit at Nash Community College's makeshift billiards arena.
A quiet experience filled with humility; hardly a Jeanette Lee moment.
When Lee finalized her opponents' first-round drubbing, the tall, attractive Asian descendent first met with her agent, signed a document and advanced to a simple table adorned with T-shirts and Lee "Black Widow” posters featuring her dark, razor-sharp eyes and glossy black hair.
Wrapped in her familiar tight-fitting black clothing, she took up post in a prearranged autograph booth, while the public address announcer notified fans that Lee's autograph was now for sale.
The catch was those waiting in line — holding out money and eyeing the Lee pinball game in the lobby — were waiting on the world's third-ranked player.
But her looks, personality, presence and talent are ubiquitous assets, transcending her sport, her ranking and reaching into Nash County.
"There are certain personalities that have a spotlight that follows them around; she's one of them,” said Tom George, an Octagon senior marketing officer and quasi-agent to Lee. "I was down in Charlotte at the Wachovia championship ... I walk in the players' lounge and Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk, Vijay Singh (and) Davis Love are all crowded around the television watching her É and they are going to be playing that day.”
She has endorsed whiskey, Gatorade, cue sticks and made a television appearance on HBO's Arliss. This March, Bravo will air a celebrity billiards show that features Lee as its host.
If an American knows of only one billiards player, chances are its Lee.
"I don't think you can create that,” Lee, a Brooklyn native, said of her aura. "You can try all you want, it's just something I've heard people say about me.
"I always want to go out there look my best, feel my best and act my best, but what it ends up being is what it is.”
What it is, according to her agent, is her role as the Anna Kournikova of billiards.
George says her ability to draw the spotlight has earned her a "healthy living.” And she is not the only Octagon client holding the sex-symbol card. Soccer's Mia Hamm and softball's Jennie Finch also employ the company to represent them.
"Jeanette's third in the world; do you think anyone cares?” said George of her slight fall from the top. "She does É but she's been in the public eye so long it would probably take the public five years to know she wasn't.”
But the endorsements — due to looks, personality or both — come to Lee as she uses billiards as a springboard to becoming a mainstream marketers' tool. All the while, other talented members of the WPBA simply cannot make a living by playing alone.
So does it bother Corr that even though she is ranked higher than Lee she does not reap many economic rewards?
"No, not really,” said the Ireland native. "I'm still new, Jeanette has been playing the game a long time É It doesn't bother me.”
Lee, in her early 30s, began playing billiards when she was 18 while bartending in New York City. She has put too much of her energy into fighting for her financial success to worry about eating cake while others scavenge for bread.
"In their world, where they live, people know them,” Lee said of her peers. "But how much work do they do outside their world?
"At the beginning there was resentment, but at this point they know how hard I work and what I've built, and what I need to do.”
She has worked hard. Becoming the world's top ranked player in 1994 despite a childhood condition of scoliosis.
She also battled Octagon, which had denied her a total of nine times before she flew to its Washington D.C. headquarters and blew them away with her stage presence like she has done on ESPN, in pool halls and again Thursday at Nash Community College.
And as her star is burgeoning it might even help the popularity of billiards, though George says that's not his job.
"Rising tides lift all boats,” George says.
And there was little confusion in Nash County Thursday as to who controlled the waters.
Travis Sawchik can be reached at 407-9950 or tsawchik@coxnews.com