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Success Magazine
June 2000
Giving Back / Andrea Jaeger
Winning Score: Love-Love
By Michael S. Foley (with photos by Rob Gordon)
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Andrea Jaeger's serve has never been better. The
tennis star, who wowed the courts as a 14-year-old sensation
in the early 80's, now serves fun, hope, and compassion to
children with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.
Jaeger's Silver Lining Ranch and Silver Lining
Foundation in Aspen, Colo., are parts of a success story taken
to the next level. Her tale is hard to rival in the game of
business and sheer determination.
110 PERCENT
What differentiates Jaeger, 34, from other entrepreneurs
with a dream, a goal, and a heart-felt calling to score the
ultimate victory?
She delivers.
Rock solid.
Again and again.
IT ALL STARTS AT THE BASE LINE
Jaeger's endeavor began with a search for her own
healing place. After a shoulder injury and subsequent
surgeries ended her tennis career at 18, Jaeger retired to
Tampa, Fla. She worked as a methods analyst for Time, Inc.
and volunteered at the Moffitt Cancer Institute. On the side, she
pursued her greatest passion: creating an organization
committed to long-term care for children with cancer.
"I knew I would eventually dedicate my life to helping kids
with cancer and helping kids in the hospital," she says. "I just
wasn't quite sure when that would be."
Fate decided the timing for her one night as she sat in
her car.
"I was hit by a drunk driver," she says. "I stopped at a red
light, and the guy hit me at 55 miles an hour."
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Dedication and determination make a former tennis pro's foundation a dream come true.
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"I knew I would eventually dedicate my life to helping kids
with cancer and helping kids in the hospital," says Jaeger.
"I just wasn't quite sure when that would be."
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Fractured vertebrae had doctors talking of putting Jaeger
in a full-body cast. Recovery-time estimates ranged to a year.
The prescription: rest, preferably in a stress-free environment.
Ironically, the accident proved beneficial. It propelled her
in a new direction.
Her recuperation in Aspen, a place she had visited just
once, brought together her need to succeed and the experience
of her championship years.
OVER THE SHOULDER
As a tennis pro, Jaeger demonstrated a striking mix of
character traits. On the court she was relentless and
unforgiving. Off the court she was humble and generous.
Bearing gifts and a sincere sense of sharing life's struggles,
Jaeger visited children in hospitals to fill the extra hours of
tournament time. She came across as a playful, caring
teenager with commitment and compassion. Kids in need
connected with her.
"I turned pro at 14," says Jaeger. "I didn't relate to kids in
my high school, because I was very different. I didn't relate to
players on the circuit, because I was different and so much
younger.
"So I decided that I'd visit a hospital, get some toys, and
bring them to the kids. I marveled at the way they chose to look
at life. They had an abundance of appreciation and a
tremendous acceptance of each day.
"I was living in a world of five-star hotels. People
applauded me when I hit a backhand. It was a very unreal 'real'
world."
That contrast "made an impact on me," she says.
PRIZE MONEY
Jaeger's take from touring left her $1.4 million in the
bank arguably, a sizable well from which to draw. But she
was saving that seed money for her dream foundation.
In Aspen, she lived meagerly and worked with conviction
in unlikely surroundings. As a ticketing agent, she manned a
counter at the airport and leveraged her benefits. Free flights
provided research opportunities and a chance to visit with
hospitalized kids all over the country.
She also set out to meet one of the most formidable
opponents in business: fundraising.
MAKING THE CALL
It doesn't take a sports star to tell you that raising capital
and your profile is a daunting challenge, even
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if you've been to
the finals at Wimbledon. When directory listings, letters, and
telephone calls didn't return results in her first round of
fundraising, Jaeger went head to head.
Early on, an important and promising prospect for a
donation agreed to review her proposal. "He said I could drop
it off in the morning," she says.
What "morning" means is up for grabs when you're
eager.
"I sat outside his door from 5 a.m. on," she says. "I
wanted to hand-deliver it to him."
Face-to-face meetings became her key approach to
securing funding.
CLIMBING TO THE TOP
Jaeger started the Kids' Stuff Foundation in 1990. She
was 24 years old.
She put the total of her professional winnings into the
cause and gained the backing of benevolent investors. John
McEnroe, the first major contributor, made a Christmas-day
donation that founding year.
In 1992 she brought a dozen children to the Rocky
Mountains for a camp adventure. Her camp, she knew, needed
a permanent home.
A year later, Aspen residents Fritz and Fabi Benedict
donated 10 acres to the renamed Silver Lining Foundation.
Ted Forstmann launched the building campaign that put a roof
on Jaeger's home-away-from-home for kids facing big
challenges. The Benedict-Forstmann Silver Lining Ranch
opened its doors June 30, 1999. The ranch project, in total,
cost $11 million.
"When I was with Ted Forstmann and he was walking
the land and asking me all these questions, I explained to him
what we were trying to do and how we do smaller groups of
kids because we have a really extensive follow-up program,"
she says. "And I went through statistics, and dreams, and
goals in all different areas. And that was it. He went home.
"A couple of months later I got a call when I was at
fund-raising school. [Forstmann] said, 'I really love what you're
doing. I want this ranch to be built. The kids will love it. I'm
going to give you $1.7 million to start building.' And all the
business things I had learned about being politically correct
and being professional went out the window. I just started
screaming at the top of my lungs. I came back to the phone
and said, 'Mr. Forstmann, are you still there?' And he said,
'yes,' and I started screaming again. As he tells the story, I was
hyperventilating."
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