Sam Lee is a former NCAA champion tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 player.

As a youth tennis player, Lee reached as high as #7 in the U.S. tennis rankings for players 15 and under. He attended Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

, and as a sophomore, won the 1933 NCAA Doubles Championship

NCAA Men's Tennis Championship

The NCAA Men's Tennis Championships are held to crown a team, individual, and doubles champion in American college tennis. The first intercollegiate championship was held in 1883, 23 years before the founding of the NCAA, with Harvard's Joseph Clark taking the singles title...

 with partner Joe Coughlin. Lee won the Oregon state doubles championships with Elwood Cooke

Elwood Cooke

Elwood Thomas Cooke was an outstanding amateur tennis player in the 1930s and 1940s....

 in 1936, and the Oregon state singles championship in 1937.

In 1942, Lee was called to service in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. In 1945, with Wimbledon

The Championships, Wimbledon

The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...

 suspended due to the war, Lee played in the "Military Wimbledon" tournament. In 1947 and 1948, Lee and partner Emery Neale played in the Wimbledon doubles tournament.

Lee was instrumental in promoting the construction of the Portland Tennis Center in the 1970s, and has served as president of the Multnomah Athletic Club

Multnomah Athletic Club

The Multnomah Athletic Club is a private social club and athletic club in Portland, Oregon, United States.Founded in 1891, the club has expanded greatly from its beginnings. It now fills two buildings totaling , making it the largest indoor athletic club in the world...

. He was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame

Oregon Sports Hall of Fame

The Oregon Sports Hall of Fame honors Oregon athletes, teams, coaches, and others who have made a significant contribution to sports in Oregon. The first class was inducted in 1980, with new inductees added in the fall...

 in 1987, the United States Tennis Association

United States Tennis Association

The United States Tennis Association is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, from the grass-roots to the professional levels...

 Pacific Northwest Hall of Fame in 2000, and is a member of the Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame.