Meadowlark Lemon - # 120

​Meadowlark Lemon, "Clown Prince" of Harlem Globetrotters, dead at 83

He was number 120 on the list.

The virtuosic basketball star Meadowlark Lemon, renowned as the "Clown Prince of basketball" during his tenure with fellow court pranksters, the Harlem Globetrotters, has died. He was 83.

His death Sunday at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz., announced by the Globetrotters, was confirmed by his wife, Dr. Cynthia Lemon.

Both expert player and entertainer, Lemon was the ringmaster of the team that delighted the world with their court antics. He toured with the Globetrotters, playing more than 16,000 games, including 7,500 consecutively, while performing for heads of states, popes and schoolchildren.

He was one of the most popular athletes in the world during the prime of his career, thanks to a unique blend of athleticism and showmanship.

All marveled at Lemon's jaw-dropping half-court hook shots and infectious humor -- taunting referees and competing players while making the ball sing on his fingertips.

"My destiny was to make people happy," Lemon said in 2003 during his induction ceremony to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

"For a generation of fans, the name Meadowlark Lemon was synonymous with the Harlem Globetrotters," Globetrotters CEO Kurt Schneider said. "He was an incredible entertainer and brought happiness and lifelong memories to millions around the world. We have lost a great ambassador of the game."

Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, George Lemon was inspired by newsreels of the Harlem Globetrotters. "I was receiving a vision, I was receiving a dream in my heart," he said in 2003.

After attending Florida A&M University, Lemon played during one of the Globetrotters' overseas tours while serving in the Army, and requested a tryout with the team. He joined the organization in 1954 and played with the team for about a quarter of a century, and briefly returned in 1994.

After leaving the Globetrotters in 1980, Lemon played with the Bucketeers, the Shooting Stars and Meadowlark Lemon's Harlem All Stars.

In 2000 Lemon was honored with the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's John Bunn Award for lifetime contributions to the sport, and three years later was a Hall of Fame inductee. A sign of his crossover appeal, Lemon was also inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame.

Lemon also made several film and TV appearances (usually as himself), including the basketball comedy "The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh," and the TV sitcoms Diff'rent Strokes and Hello, Larry, as well as a Saturday morning cartoon.

In the 1970s, an animated version of Lemon, voiced by Scatman Crothers, starred with various other Globetrotters in the Hanna-Barbera animated cartoon series Harlem Globetrotters, as well as its spinoff, The Super Globetrotters. The animated Globetrotters also made three appearances in The New Scooby-Doo Movies.

Lemon appeared alongside Fred "Curly" Neal, Marques Haynes and his other fellow Globetrotters in a live-action Saturday-morning television show, The Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine, in 1974–1975, which also featured Rodney Allen Rippy and Avery Schreiber.

In 1978, Lemon appeared in a memorable Burger King commercial by making a tower of burgers until he found a double-beef pickles and onions with no-cheese burger.

In 1983, Lemon appeared on an episode of Alice entitled "Tommy Fouls Out", and in a Charmin toilet paper commercial alongside Mr. Whipple (actor Dick Wilson).

In 1996 season 2 episode 5 of Pinky and the Brain titled "Brain's Song" Meadowlark Lemon was Brain's best friend in the parody of Brian's Song

In 2006, on episode of adult swim's The Boondocks entitled "The Itis", the name of Meadowlark was used as the name of the park that Ed Wuncler I mentions an interest in purchasing from the state.

In 2009, on FOX's TV show The Cleveland Show, the name of Meadowlark Lemon was used for a dog's name for the character of Rallo Tubbs. The dog died in the first season.

We remember the noted personalities who helped shape our world, inspired us, and moved us with their creativity and humanity

In 2010 Lemon -- an ordained minister -- published "Trust Your Next Shot: A Guide to a Life of Joy," a memoir of his days with the Globetrotters and a guide to living a joy-filled life. He told CBS Station WCBS that one secret to winning over people is to make them laugh; once two people have that connection, Lemon said, that's the beginning of a team.

Through his ministry, Lemon spent his later years as a motivational speaker, meeting children around the country at basketball camps and youth prisons.

"I feel if I can touch a kid in youth prison, he won't go to the adult prison," Lemon said in 2003.

He never lost touch with his beloved sport. Lemon said he rose every day at 4 a.m. and, after prayers, headed for the gym to run sprints and practice shooting.

"I have to keep that hook shot working," he said.

Actor

Imps* (1983)

Imps*

3.8

Willie (segment "Man on the Moon")

1983

 

Polly Holliday, Beth Howland, and Linda Lavin in Alice (1976)

Alice

6.8

TV Series

Meadowlark Lemon

1983

1 episode

 

Johnny the Dog in Here's Boomer (1980)

Here's Boomer

6.6

TV Series

Meadowlark Lemon

1981

1 episode

 

Crash Island (1981)

Crash Island

TV Movie

Meadowlark

1981

 

Albert Brooks and Kathryn Harrold in Modern Romance (1981)

Modern Romance

7.0

Meadowlark Lemon

1981

 

McLean Stevenson in Hello, Larry (1979)

Hello, Larry

5.7

TV Series

Meadowlark Lemon

Meadowlark

1979–1980

13 episodes

 

3-2-1 Contact (1980)

3-2-1 Contact

8.2

TV Series

Coach

1980

5 episodes

 

The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh (1979)

The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh

5.3

Rev. Grady Jackson

1979

 

Diff'rent Strokes (1978)

Diff'rent Strokes

6.6

TV Series

Meadowlark Lemon

1979

1 episode

 

Sweepstakes (1979)

Sweepstakes

6.0

TV Series

1979

1 episode

 

Harlem Globe Trotters (1970)

Harlem Globe Trotters

6.2

TV Series

(voice)

1970–1971

22 episodes