Meadowlark Lemon, an amazing athlete and minister who poured three decades of comedic basketball showmanship into the Harlem Globetrotters, died at his Scottsdale, Ariz., home Sunday, his daughter said. He was 83.
“It seems as if he suddenly passed away in his sleep, very peacefully,” daughter Donna Maria Lemon, 54, of Wayne, Pa., told the Daily News.
“We were shocked. He didn’t have any illnesses that we knew of. He was a healthy man. He never drank all of his days or smoked cigarettes. We just feel it was natural causes at age 83 after having lived a very full life,” she said.
The father of 10 was living in Arizona with wife Cynthia Lemon and services are pending, Donna Lemon said.
AT 90, THE HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS STILL MAKE DREAMS COME TRUE
Lemon earned his famous “Clown Prince” moniker while playing more than 7,500 consecutive games for delighted fans, including popes, kings, queens, presidents, Hollywood stars and countless kids in nearly a hundred countries, the Harlem Globetrotters said.
Born in 1932, Lemon said he was introduced to the sport through a newsreel shown at a theater in his childhood hometown of Wilmington, N.C.
He recalled running home and fashioning a rudimentary hoop out of a coat hanger and an onion sack.
Lemon practiced non-stop, he said, grabbing a nearby poll and spinning his body around before tossing shot after shot.
Little did he know he was refining the crazy half-court hook shot that would help define his career.
He later served two years in the Army and played a few games with the Trotters on an overseas tour.
In April 1952, he sent a letter to team management requesting a tryout. Owner Abe Saperstein gave him a spot on a developmental team, the Kansas City Stars.
He played his first full season with the Globetrotters in 1954.
MARQUES HAYNES, LEGENDARY HARLEM GLOBETROTTER STAR AND BASKETHALL HALL OF FAMER, DEAD AT 89
He toured constantly, his daughter said, making his time at home with his former wife and their five kids in Fairfield, Conn., a rare occurrence.
“When he was home it was funny because he wasn’t used to our daily schedules and we’d ask him to do things that our mom wouldn’t let us do,” Donna Lemon said with a laugh during a phone interview Monday.
“I remember he went to spank me one time, and I ran away, and he picked me up by my ankles and gave me a light pat on the behind as he was cracking up. He thought it was so funny that I thought I could get away from him,” she recalled.
“That was his sense of humor. It was innocent. The whole process of getting to the spanking made him laugh. He had a very good nature,” she said. “He was a softie.”
Lemon retired from the Globetrotters in 1978 as he explored the world of entertainment with roles in “Diff’rent Strokes,” “Alice” and “The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh.”
His likeness was used in a Scooby Doo cartoon.
Known as a thoughtful man with a big heart, Lemon also launched the Meadowlark Lemon Ministries in Arizona as a full-time minister.
In 2003, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
During his speech, he apologized to his children for spending so much time on the road.
“For a generation of fans, the name Meadowlark Lemon was synonymous with the Harlem Globetrotters,” said Globetrotters CEO Kurt Schneider. “He was an incredible entertainer and brought happiness and lifelong memories to millions around the world. We have lost a great ambassador of the game.”
The Globetrotters are dedicating their current 90th anniversary tour to Lemon and fellow Harlem Globetrotters legend and Hall of Famer Marques Haynes, who passed away in May.
Fans and celebrities flooded social media with messages honoring Lemon as a legend.
Musician Questlove called Lemon “a vital part of my childhood in the 70s.”
“Man he will be missed. Rip!” the percussionist from The Roots and “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” wrote on Instagram.
“He was a treasure,” Paula Abdul tweeted.
“As magical a basketball player as I ever saw,” wrote sports reporter Skip Bayless on Twitter.
Lemon also is survived by 11 grandchildren, his daughter Donna Lemon told The News.