“He was just beautiful. It was like he was floating… around the [pool] table like an angel…” said world champion billiards player Jeanette Lee in an ESPN 30 For 30 episode about her life. Chelsea Billiards in New York had just opened and Lee—who was not a pool player at the time—stopped by to check it out. She saw Johnny Ervolino playing and said, “I was mesmerized.”
Lee, born in 1971, is a former Korean American professional pool player. She was nicknamed the Black Widow because she always wore all black when competing—including black high heels and black gloves—and she devoured her opponents. Lee’s skills as a pool player are all the more remarkable given that she had two 18-inch steel rods inserted in her spine when she was thirteen years old in an effort to remedy her extreme scoliosis. The rods caused her nearly continuous pain when she was competing, and she was only able to bend from the waist and knees.
Due to the back pain she suffered, Lee dropped out of high school and began drinking, tried drugs and would run away from home. Then, when she was 18 and saw Ervolino play, her life changed. “I remember playing pool every day from morning to night,” Lee said, of her years spent having adventures and honing her skills as an amateur pool player. “Everybody was gambling for money… I was pretty fearless. You got to know all the regulars.”
After three years Lee was good enough to become a professional. She went on to rank as the No. 1 female pool player in the world during the 1990s. And she won the gold medal for the United States at the 2001 World Games in Akita, Japan. “Before pool I wasn’t sure why I was here,” said Lee of finding her mission. “But I finally found something that I loved. And everything changed. Suddenly I had a reason to care about myself.”
She began eating better, and exercising to strengthen her back. “If you want to be the best player that ever lived, you’re giving your life to pool. You’re saying, I don’t need friends, family, food, sleep…” Eventually after enduring herniated discs and ten back surgeries, Lee retired, saying “I was in constant pain. Pool was the last thing I should be doing.” As part of her legacy, Lee now serves as national spokesperson for the Scoliosis Association.
