Meadowlark Lemon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Meadowlark Lemon (born April 25, 1932) is an American basketball player and actor. Lemon was known, for 22 years, as the "Clown Prince" of the touring Harlem Globetrotters basketball team. He was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, US.
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[edit] Basketball career
Lemon played in 94 countries, before various diplomats, world leaders, royalty, celebrities, and the paying public in general. Over his career he played in more than 16,000 games for the Globetrotters.
He first applied to the Globetrotters in 1954, finally being chosen to play in 1955. 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, for which he plays currently.[1] Despite being with his own touring team, Lemon returned to the Globetrotters, playing 50 games with them in 1994.
In 2000, Lemon received the John Bunn Award, the highest honor given by the Basketball Hall of Fame outside of induction. In 2003, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
[edit] Television
Lemon played Meadowlark, the owner of a sports store, on the NBC television sitcom Hello, Larry. He was on the show for the second and final season, from 1979–1980.
[edit] Personal life
Lemon is married to Cynthia Lemon, a doctor of naturopathy. A born-again Christian, Lemon became an ordained minister in 1986 and received a Doctor of Divinity degree from Vision International University in Ramona, California, in 1988. He resides in Scottsdale, Arizona, where his Meadowlark Lemon Ministries maintains an office.[2]
[edit] Quotes
- "I wanted to be the best comedic basketball player of all time."
- "You can be anything that you can imagine."
