Sang Lee
Template:Korean name Sang Chun Lee (January 15, 1954 – October 19, 2004), most commonly known simply as Sang Lee, was an American three-cushion billiards player of Korean descent. He is considered one of the greatest players of the game. Originally from South Korea, Lee moved to New York City in 1987.
Professional career
Dubbed the "Michael Jordan of three-cushion billiards"[1] at the time of his arrival in the United States, Lee already had eight Korean national titles under his belt. Lee promptly went on to dominate three cushion billiards in the U.S., winning twelve consecutive United States Billiard Association National Three-cushion Championships, from 1990 to 2001. At the 2002 Championships, his impressive run came to an end when he was defeated by Pedro Piedrabuena in the finals of the tournament. Aptly, Piedrabuena received his early training in billiards from none other than Lee.
Lee also won the coveted 1993 BWA World Three-cushion Championship held in Ghent, Belgium - becoming the first representative of the United States to win that title in forty years.
Lee holds the world record for the highest game average in three-cushion billiards. In a tournament, he made 12.5 by making 50 points in only 4 innings.
As a player, Lee's ambition was "making billiards beautiful in America",[2] by restoring the recognition and competitive level of three-cushion billiards. But he never lived to fulfill them as he passed away in 2004 due to stomach cancer.
On 15 May, 2007, Lee was inducted into the BCA Hall of Fame.[3]
Sang Lee International Billiards Tournament
Each year after Lee's death, a tournament featuring many of the world's best three-cushion players, known as the Sang Lee International Billiards Tournament, has been hosted at Carom Cafe in Flushing, Queens, New York, the pool hall Lee was a co-owner of at the time of his death.[4]
References
- ^ "Ideas & Trends; They're Sort of Like Mike", by Caitlin Lovinger, New York Times (online edition), January 17, 1999. Accessed December 30, 2006.
- ^ Carom Tournament Press
- ^ "BCA Hall of Fame 2007 — 51st Inductee: Sang Chun Lee", Billiard Congress of America, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA; accessed 2 March 2007
- ^ "Billiards' Best Spin Doctors Vie in a Three-Cushion Zone" by Corey Kilgannon, New York Times (online edition), August 18, 2006. Accessed December 30, 2006.
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