Meadowlark Lemon

Meadowlark Lemon
Meadowlark shooting at an exhibition game on an aircraft carrier
Born	Meadow Lemon April 25, 1932 (1932-04-25) (age 79) Wilmington, North Carolina, United States
Residence	Scottsdale, Arizona
Occupation	Minister
Known for	The Harlem Globetrotters
Height	6'6"
Religion	Christianity
Denomination	Non-denominational

Meadowlark Lemon (left) meeting Betty Ford, during a 1974 visit to the White House.

Meadow "Meadowlark" Lemon^[1] (born April 25, 1932) is an American basketball player, actor, and minister. For 22 years, Lemon was known as the "Clown Prince" of the touring Harlem Globetrotters basketball team. He played in more than 16,000 games for the Globetrotters and is a 2003 inductee of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, and attended Florida A&M University.

Career

Lemon first applied to the Globetrotters in 1954 at age 22, finally being chosen to play the following year (1955). In 1980, he left to form one of his 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 "Meadowlark Lemon's Harlem All Stars" team.^[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 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame outside of induction. He was inducted into the hall three years later.

On May 18, 2009, it was announced that Lemon had become the new partial owner of the Smoky Mountain Jam of the American Basketball Association.^[2]

Personal life

Lemon has 10 children: Richard, George, Beverly, Donna, Robin, Jonathan (a.k.a. Meadowlark, Jr.), Jamison, Angela, Crystal and Caleb. George is currently an assistant football coach at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Lemon is married to Dr. Cynthia Lemon, a practitioner 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, Inc. and Meadowlark Lemon's Harlem All Stars maintain an office.^[1]

Trivia

Meadowlark starred in the 1979 Educational geography film Meadowlark Lemon Presents the World.

In Jurassic 5's 1998 self titled debut album, the 5th track 'Concrete Schoolyard' features a reference by Chali 2na, rapping "Forever Winning I'm in it Like Medowlark Lemon".

In the 2003 film I Spy, the characters played by Eddie Murphy and Owen Wilson reference Lemon and other Globetrotters as a metaphor as to which of them would be the leader of their mission and which would take a sidekick role.

In the season one The Boondocks episode "The Itis", the character of Granddad mistakenly thinks Meadowlark Memorial Park is named for Meadowlark Lemon.

In a season six episode of How I Met Your Mother, James (played by Wayne Brady) claims his mother once told him that Meadowlark Lemon was his biological father—though she also mentioned several other celebrities over the years.

In the season one The Cleveland Show episode "Da Doggone Daddy Daughter Dinner Dance", Cleveland runs over the family dog, named Meadowlark Lemon.

In The Adventures of Pete and Pete episode "On Golden Pete", the Wrigley family mentions being famous "like Meadowlark Lemon" numerous times.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} http://www.MeadowlarkLemon.net
2. ^ ABA StatCentral - Meadowlark Lemon Joins ABA

External links

• (official website
• Meadowlark Lemon at the Internet Movie Database

Persondata
Name	Lemon, Meadowlark
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	April 25, 1932
Place of birth	Wilmington, North Carolina, United States
Date of death
Place of death