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NACWAA to honor Saint
Paul's legend with Lifetime Achievement
Award
August 18, 2005
Wilmington, NC, - This year, the National Association of Collegiate
Women Athletics Administrators (NACWAA) will honor Jeannette
A. Lee (posthumously), Saint Paul’s College, as one of
its Lifetime Achievement Award recipients. Joining Ms. Lee are
four other very special women, each of whom has provided outstanding
leadership in intercollegiate athletics. They include Linda Jean
Carpenter, Ph.D., Brooklyn College, Joanne “Jo” Kuhn,
Texas Woman’s University, Elma Neal Roane, University of
Memphis, and Marya Welch, Ph.D., University of California, Davis. “It
is such an honor to pay special tribute to the women who dedicated
their efforts to the enhancement of opportunities for women in
intercollegiate athletics,” said Jennifer Alley, Executive
Director.
The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented annually to athletics
administrators who have dedicated their professional careers
to advancing women in sport and because of their tireless efforts
girls and women participating in sport truly can enjoy competitive
athletics or athletic career opportunities. The 2005 Lifetime
Achievement Award Luncheon, sponsored by NIKE, will be held
on Sunday, October 9, 2005, at the NACWAA National Convention
in Kansas City, Missouri.
In 1960, Jeanette A Lee, began coaching and teaching health
and physical education at Saint Paul's College in Lawrenceville,
Virginia. She received both her undergraduate and graduate
degrees from North Carolina Central University, Durham, North
Carolina and was 12 hours from obtaining her doctorate from
Indiana University of Bloomington.
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 will last for many years
to come and reach beyond the hills of Saint Paul’s College.
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 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 to be first among the
sea of men as a SHE-RO.
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