Billiards tournament remembers one of game's greats

They came from all over the world to either compete, witness, or be a small part the second annual Sang Lee International Open three-cushion billiards tournament.
Sure, the $85,000 purse, one of the largest in the world, was enticing. So were the big names, from the American champion, Mazin Shooni, to the countless international stars, from Belgian Raymond Ceulemans, the 35-time world champion, to the eight-time European champ from Sweden, Torbjorn Blomdahl.
But more than any amount of cash or impressive billiards displays, they congregated at the Carom Caf, at 34th Avenue and Linden Boulevard just north of downtown Flushing, to remember Lee, the smooth billiards star who inspired so many. &#8220He made me want to play the game,” said Minjae Pak, a manager at Carom Caf and close friend. Pak met Lee in 1992 when he ran a billiards hall in Jackson Heights.
He fondly recalled Lee running off 17 billiards points in a row with that effortless manner of his, the balls floating around the table as smoothly as he might start up a conversation with a stranger. &#8220He was different than any other player,” Pak said of the 12-time U.S. Champion. &#8220The other top players would strong-arm the ball. Sang Lee would ask the balls where they wanted to go and they would go there.”
But it wasn't just Lee's ability on a billiards table that made him stand out. He was an ambassador for the sport. Others recalled how, even though he was one of the top players around, he would seek out his little-known competitors, offering advice and helpful hints. &#8220He gave people all of his knowledge,” said Dennis Dieckman, a cue builder and semi-pro billiards player.
The game of three-cushion billiards epitomized the gentlemanly Lee. It lacks the ball crashing into ball noise of pocket billiards. Instead of leather jackets and jeans, competitors don tuxedo vests, bow ties and neatly pressed slacks. Frederic Caudron, the two-time world champion from Belgium, took home first prize this year and a check for $12,750 in the 80-entrant tournament played with three balls on a pocketless table, slightly bigger than a regulation-size pool table.
Players tally points by hitting the cue ball into the other two balls and that it hits at least three sides of the table in one shot. The sides of the table have to be hit before the cue ball makes contact with the second of the two other balls.
Lee was a Korean billiards legend, winning 10 national championships. He moved to America in 1986, winning his first U.S. title in 1990, and opened SI Billiards in Jackson Heights after moving from Chicago. He started the Sang Lee International Tournaments and became a world champion in 1994. He opened the Carom Caf in 2000 with fellow billiard player Michael Kang. Lee died of stomach cancer in 2004 at the age of fifty.
Somewhere, his wife Kyong and daughter Olivia said, he was looking down at all the champions from around the globe, their precision and proper etiquette, and smiling. &#8220He'd be very excited,” Kyong said.