“Athlete, Entertainer, Motivator, Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2003”

Meadowlark LemonMeadowlark Lemon, the “Clown Prince of Basketball a legendary hero in the world of sports. His name and patented hook shot are ingrained in the memories of more than one generation. Meadowlark was the most popular member of the most beloved sports team in history – the Harlem Globetrotters.  There is probably not one country where he hasn’t performed his on-court artistry. Meadowlark Lemon is a household name.

For more than five decades, the irrepressible “Clown Prince of Basketball” thrilled millions of fans with his basketball skills and slapstick comedy. A gifted athlete and hilarious comedian, he was as renowned for his famous confetti-in-the-water-bucket routine as he was for hitting hook shots from half court.

Meadowlark’s “no-look, wrap-around pass” for an easy slam-dunk and his wit is unsurpassed. In his nationally syndicated column, Los Angeles Times Sports Writer, Jim Murray, described Meadowlark Lemon as “…an American Institution whose uniform should hang alongside the Spirit of St. Louis and the Gemini Space Capsule in the halls of the Smithsonian Institute”. Even today, fans will relay stories of the time they witnessed his performance.  On television or in the arena, you knew you were watching a gifted athlete who loved his game, and the people who were watching him. 

Meadowlark’s rise to fame embodies the American dream. Can anyone top the storybook climb from the poverty of a small town right into the uniform of an international ball team?  A native of Wilmington, North Carolina, he practiced hoops as a child at the local playground. Meadowlark readily admits, poverty or no, life was anything but boring.

"He did more for basketball than 10 seasons of the Boston Celtics"
 Jim Murray, Sportswriter

   It was at the local cinema house that he and his friends spent weekends transfixed while the big screen brought their hopes and dreams to life.  At age 11, a newsreel about the Harlem Globetrotters captured Meadowlark’s heart and sent him running home to tell his father of his newfound life’s desire to join the team.
He determined then and there that he was someday going to be on that team. He firmly believes that God planted this dream in his heart and then gave him the relentless desire to pursue it. He had no money for a basketball, so he rigged up a makeshift, backyard hoop with an onion sack and coat hanger, and used an empty milk can for his first two-point shot. That inauspicious beginning was to be the start of a sports legacy that would span the universe. By the time Meadowlark reached high school, the competition was fierce. His grueling practice schedule often kept him on the courts for eight to twelve hours a day. Clean living constituted his health and stamina. Meadowlark abstained from alcohol, drugs and cigarettes.

Shortly before high school graduation, the Globetrotters contacted the promising athlete from Wilmington, North Carolina. Uncle Sam first insisted on two years in the armed forces. Meadowlark kept in touch with the Globetrotters and formally joined the team as soon as he was a civilian again.

He traveled by car, bus, train or plane every night, including tours through the racially torn South of the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. Meadowlark’s family life was limited at times, since he averaged more than 325 games a year, but the King of the Court kept smiling. Meadowlark traveled more than 4 million miles and played in 9,925 consecutive games and 9,984 lifetime basketball games. His love of the game transcended all barriers and brought smiles to generations of fans in over 100 countries from Algeria to Zimbabwe. He counts Popes, Kings, Queens and Presidents among his audiences.

Meadowlark 'King Of The Court'In 1979, after 24 years as a Globetrotter, Meadowlark left the team to fulfill another dream, his own basketball team, The Bucketeers. A highly recognizable celebrity both on and off the court, Meadowlark appeared in the feature films, “Modern Romance” and “The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh”. He starred with McLean Stevenson in the television series “Hello Larry”. Other television appearances included “The Ed Sullivan Show”, Johnny Carson’s “The Tonight Show”, “The Today Show”, “Good Morning America”, “The Barbara Mandrel Show”, “The Goldie Hawn Special”, numerous appearances with Bill Cosby, “The Kroft Super Show”, The Harlem Globetrotter’s cartoon, “The Popcorn Machine”, and who can forget “Scooby Doo”? He was considered the star of the Globetrotters show broadcast on ABC’s Wide World of Sports, not to mention four of his own NBC Sports Specials. To Meadowlark’s credit, four of the Wide World of Sports shows are still rated as the most highly broadcast in the series’ history.

Additionally, he has done many commercials for companies such as Footlocker, Burger King, Pepsi Cola, Dr. Pepper, Band-Aid, Safeway Food Stores, Boeing Aircraft, Revlon, Quencher Gum, the U.S. Postal Service and the Yellow Pages. He was also featured alongside Dick “Mr. Whipple” Wilson in Charmin’s famous “Please Don’t Squeeze The Charmin” Ads and has endorsed Nike shoes and Rawlings basketballs.

Meadowlark also stepped into the recording studio for RCA and Casablanca Records and recorded an album titled, “My Kids”. When he recorded “My Kids”, Meadowlark said, “It was something I always wanted to do because I deal with a lot of kids on the road and at home.”    He is the father of ten children, five girls, and five boys. He says, “Just about everything

 I’ve ever wanted to tell a kid is laid out on that record. The message is one of universal love”. Meadowlark has recently released a new CD titled “Welcome To My World” on the Crossroads Music label that includes the famous “Sweet Georgia Brown”.

Whether it is making people laugh or offering inspiration, giving has always been a part of Meadowlark’s life. In 1986 he became an ordained minister and in 1998, received his Doctorate of Divinity from Vision International University. He also hosts “The Meadowlark Lemon Show” which is televised nationally and internationally each week through the Trinity Broadcasting Network and in syndication. In competition with the other major networks, “The Meadowlark Lemon Show” has won four Angel Awards.  He recently started the Meadowlark Lemon Online Academy, a fully accredited online distance learning institution for children.

Curly Neal and Meadowlark LemonMeadowlark has played in 16,000 career basketball games. He was inducted into the NBA Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003 and received the NBA Lifetime Achievement – John Bunn Award in 2000.  He currently has his own comedic basketball team, the Meadowlark Lemon’s Harlem All Stars™.

   The ageless hoop master also strives to reach today’s youth through Camp Meadowlark, a co-ed sports camp begun in 1989 to educate and offer children alternatives to the dangers of substance abuse. Throughout their nationwide camps, Meadowlark and his staff stress the importance of drug awareness and the urgency of the problems gripping our youth. Meadowlark’s message is simple: “If you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem.”

Meadowlark says, “Being able to reach out and talk to kids about substance abuse and have an impact on their lives is my main purpose for the camp.

Meadowlark is married to Dr. Cynthia Lemon, who is a Doctor of Naturopathy.  They recently formed the Meadowlark Lemon Foundation, an organization dedicated to “changing lives, to change the world.”