CIAA Hall of Fame Members

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Jeanette Lee

  • Class
  • Induction
    1998
  • Sport(s)
Athletic Administrator
Saint Paul's University

Jeanette A Lee, began coaching and teaching health and physical education at Saint Paul's College (SPC) in Lawrenceville, Virginia. She received both her undergraduate and graduate degrees from North Carolina Central University.
 
Initially, Lee’s mentor and collegiate coach/instructor, the legendary John B. McLendon, sent her to Saint Paul’s College, “to get a little experience and move on to bigger adventures”. Lee had over 30 years of adventures at the liberal arts college, and her impact lasted for many years to come and reached beyond the hills of SPC.
 
On the conference level, Lee played a strong leadership role in developing the Women's Athletic division of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA). By corralling the league’s women leadership and gaining buy-in from the male power-brokers, the CIAA had their first women’s basketball tournament in 1980. On the battlefield for Title IX, Lee made inspirational presentations both nationally and statewide on hearing panels and committees on behalf of women's athletics and the educational benefits of health education for young people.
 
Always the pioneering trailblazer, Ms. Lee became the first female athletic director in 1990 that oversaw both men's and women's programs in the CIAA and was the fifth woman to be inducted in the
CIAA Hall of Fame. Known as a strong leader, she was a woman of her word, a believer of inclusion and an advocate for the student, not just the student-athlete.
 
Each year the CIAA recognizes the athletic director who exemplifies these qualities in his/her administration by giving them the Jeanette A. Lee Athletic Administrator of the Year Award.

Beyond athletics, Lee made her home available for poor-gifted students and served as a mentor to over 200 women who currently serve in leadership roles in athletics at both the secondary and collegiate levels. She was directly responsible for 55 women going on to pursue doctorates in their fields. She doggedly found scholarship and grant money to assist deserving young people to attend college.
 
Ms. Lee will always be a role model of true servant leadership. Her unselfish efforts contributed directly to the establishment of several youth serving organizations in the local community of Brunswick County Virginia where she emphasized health education via the Boy and Girl Scouts of America, youth activities of Delta Sigma Theta and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sororities, and the establishment of the Public Service Health Education Initiative for Brunswick. These organizations are still in existence today and they provide major outlets for youth through athletics, leadership and civic development.
 
Although she passed on June 10, 1992, she will be remembered for her words of wisdom and her courage.
 
In 2005 the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators (NACWAA) honored Jeanette A. Lee (posthumously) as one of its Lifetime Achievement participants at the National Convention in Kansas City, MO.