Meadowlark 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.
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.
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.
He currently has his own comedic basketball team, the Harlem
All-Stars™, and is looking forward to a big celebration when he plays game
number 10,000. Already having been inducted into several Halls of Fame including
the North Carolina Press Association Hall of Fame, he was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame with the Class
of 2003 for his years of dedication to his craft.
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.”
