Meadowlark Lemon; now this is old for Meadowlark died last year but I'm just now finding out about it!

Now I'm mad! Meadowlark Lemon died last year and I'm just finding out about it! You see, as a kid growing up in the 70's Meadowlark Lemon was every young black kids hero. For before there was a Michael Jordan, or Shaquille O'neal, or even Kareem and Dr. J, there was Meadowlark Lemon and the Harlem Globetrotters were every black persons favorite basketball team. I mean, a lot has been made of Jackie Robinson intergrating baseball, but basketball was just as prejudiced too. It was the Globetrotters who opened up the possibilities of basketball becoming a world class sport by taking ghetto ball and introducing it to the world. Eitherway, Meadowlark Lemon was my favorite basketball player of all time and he will be sorely missed!

Harlem Globetrotters legend Meadowlark Lemon, 83, dies

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Dec 28, 2015

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Meadowlark Lemon, the "Clown Prince of Basketball" who entertained fans as a member of the Harlem Globetrotters for 24 years, died Sunday in Scottsdale, Arizona, the team announced. He was 83.
No cause of death has been given.
Lemon, who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003, joined the Globetrotters in 1954 at age 22 and stayed with the traveling show until 1978, appearing in more than 16,000 games in more than 100 countries.
Though skilled enough to play professionally, Lemon instead wanted to entertain, and his dream of playing for the Globetrotters began after watching a newsreel of the all-black team at a cinema house when he was 11.
Lemon ended up becoming arguably its most popular player, a showman known as much for his confetti-in-the-water-bucket routine and slapstick comedy as his half-court hook shots and no-look, behind-the-back passes.
"My destiny was to make people happy," Lemon said in 2003 as he was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a contributor to the game.
He is one of only five Globetrotters to have their numbers retired since the team was founded in Chicago in the 1920s.
"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."

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Lemon also received the John W. Bunn Award in 2003 for his outstanding lifetime contributions to basketball.
He played for the Globetrotters during the team's heyday from the mid-1950s to the late-1970s, delighting fans with his skills with a ball and a joke. Traveling by car, bus, train or plane nearly every night, Lemon covered nearly 4 million miles to play in front of popes and presidents, kings and queens. He averaged 325 games per year during his prime, that luminous smile never dimming.
"Meadowlark was the most sensational, awesome, incredible basketball player I've ever seen," NBA great and former Globetrotter Wilt Chamberlain said shortly before his death in 1999. "People would say it would be Dr. J or even [Michael] Jordan. For me, it would be Meadowlark Lemon."
"Anytime someone that was a pioneer or anyone that has given so much to the game kind of releases from our brotherhood and our fraternity, it's definitely a sad day, so prayers and best wishes to the family," LeBron James said.
The Globetrotters said on Twitter that they'd dedicate the team's 90th anniversary tour to Lemon and former teammate and fellow Hall of Famer Marques Haynes, who died in May.
During his time with the team, Lemon appeared in movies, including "The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh"; several television shows and specials, including "ABC's Wide World of Sports," "The Ed Sullivan Show" and "The Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine"; an animated version of Lemon also appeared on "The Harlem Globetrotters" cartoon series and on episodes of "Scooby Doo."
He was one of the most popular athletes in the world during the prime of his career, thanks to a unique blend of athleticism and showmanship.
Playing against the team's nightly foil, the Washington Generals, Lemon left fans in awe with an array of hook shots and no-look passes, and with the nifty moves he displayed during the Globetrotters' famous circle while "Sweet Georgia Brown" played over the loudspeaker.
Shaquille O'Neal was among those reacting to the news of Lemon's death on Twitter.