Meadowlark Lemon

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George "Meadowlark" Lemon (born April 25, 1935) is a famous basketball player originally from Wilmington, North Carolina, USA. Lemon was known, for 22 years, as the Clown Prince of the Harlem Globetrotters, a team upon which he left his mark as a player. (External image link: Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Inc.)

Lemon played in 94 countries, before various diplomats, world leaders, royalty, celebrities and public in general.

He first applied to the Harlem team in 1952, finally being chosen to play in 1957. In 1980, he left to form one of his multiple other Globetrotters imitators, the Bucketeers. He played with that team until 1983, then moved on to play with the Shooting Stars from 1984 to 1987. In 1988, he moved on to his Meadowlark Lemon's Harlem All Stars team, where he played until 1998. Despite being with his own touring team, Lemon returned to the Globetrotters, playing 50 games with them in 1994.

Lemon was one of the most popular and best-known of the Globetrotters. In 2000, he received the John Bunn award, the highest honor given by the Basketball Hall of Fame outside of induction itself. Many critics debated whether Lemon should be inducted into the Hall or not; this debate ended in 2003 when he was inducted as a contributor to the game. He played in more than 16,000 games for the Globetrotters.

Meadowlark Lemon is now a born-again Christian and an ordained minister in his adopted hometown of Scottsdale, Arizona, where he also handles an office. Meadowlark Lemon holds a Doctor of Divinity degree from Vision International University in Ramona, California.

In 2004, Lemon returned with his Harlem All Stars. Asked by the Arizona Republic newspaper for a reaction about this, Globetrotters owner Mannie Jackson answered that he likes Lemon on a personal side and wishes him the best.