Playing for the Harlem Globetrotters was a life-long dream for Lemon who spent his childhood playing ball at a boys’ club in North Carolina. Coming from humble beginnings, Lemon used a coat hanger as a hoop and a onion bag as a net so he could practice. He briefly attended Florida A&M University before joining the army for two years.
Lemon was a gifted basketball player although his skills were often overshadowed by his on court antics. Lemon was known for sinking half-court hook shots, throwing behind-the-back passes and pretending to spy on his opponents’ huddles.
Known to fans as the “clown prince,” Lemon helped pioneer trademark routines including one where he drenched a referee with a bucket of water and then pranked fans by heaving another bucket filled with confetti, not water.
Over the course of his career, Lemon played more than 7,500 consecutive games for overjoyed fans, including popes, kings, queens, presidents, Hollywood stars and countless kids in nearly a hundred countries, according to the Harlem Globetrotters.
After retiring and joining the Hall of Fame, Lemon became an ordained Christian minister and founded the nonprofit Meadowlark Lemon Ministries in 1994. He spent the last several years of his life as a motivational speaker.
