His death Sunday at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz., announced by the Globetrotters, was confirmed by his wife, Dr. Cynthia Lemon.
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He left the Globetrotters in 1978 after a contract dispute but continued playing basketball until well into his 70s – clocking up an estimated 16,000 games in 100 countries.
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A sign of his crossover appeal, Lemon was inducted into both the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and the International Clown Hall of Fame.
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“For a generation of fans, the name Meadowlark Lemon was synonymous with the Harlem Globetrotters”, Globetrotters CEO Kurt Schneider said in a statement.
Former NBA great Wilt Chamberlain, speaking shortly before his death in 1999, called Lemon the most sensational basketball player he had ever seen.
“People would say it would be Dr J or even Jordan. For me, it would be Meadowlark Lemon”.
A native of Wilmington, N.C., Meadowlark Lemon joined the Harlem Globetrotters in 1954 and entertained fans all over the world as their top showman for 24 seasons. The team is now in the midst of its 90th anniversary celebration tour, which this year included a special audience with the Pope.
Lemon is said to be part of the golden age of the Globetrotters, as it was a time when Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were to enter the league, and he had a great influence on the game of basketball his entire career. After serving two years in the Army – where he played a few games with the Trotters on an overseas tour – Lemon was given a tryout by Globetrotters’ owner Abe Saperstein and made the cut.
Crothers also voiced Lemon on the CBS animated series, The New Scooby-Doo Movies.
In the Hanna-Barbera Harlem Globetrotters cartoon, which first aired on CBS, Lemon was voiced by Scatman Crothers.
After leaving the Globetrotters in 1979 he started his own teams and also became a minister. “I want you to always remember that life’s most meaningless statistic is the half time score and as far as I’m concerned it’s always half-time”, he once said on his website.
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He never lost touch with his beloved sport.
