I loved watching this guy!

16,000 straight games after missing one in 1955 because of some bad goulash-incredible!

Rest well my friend...


ESPN.com news services

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."

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."

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 on 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.

Lemon also had a knack for sending the fans home with a smile every night, whether it was with his running commentary, putting confetti in a water bucket or pulling down the pants of an "unsuspecting" referee.

"We played serious games too, against the Olympic teams and the College All-Stars," Lemon said. "But that didn't stop us from putting the comedy in there."

He also awarded with the International Clown Hall of Fame's Lifetime of Laughter Award in 2000.

Lemon left the Globetrotters in 1978 over a contract dispute and thereafter formed his own traveling teams -- the Meadowlark Lemon's Bucketeers, the Shooting Stars and Meadowlark Lemon's Harlem All-Stars -- as he continued to play well into his 70s.

He later formed Scottsdale-based Meadowlark Lemon Ministries, traveling the country to provide a message of faith to children in basketball camps and youth prisons.

Aside from Lemon's No. 36, other Globetrotters to have their numbers retired are Wilt Chamberlain (13), Fred "Curly" Neal (22), Haynes (20) and Reece "Goose" Tatum (50). Washington Generals founder Red Klotz also had his number retired.

Born in 1932, Meadow George Lemon III -- he lengthened his name after joining the Globetrotters -- didn't have money for a basketball when he was young, so he rigged up a makeshift hoop in his backyard in Wilmington, N.C. Using a coat hanger and onion sack for the basket, he made his first shot with an empty milk can.

Lemon first contacted the Globetrotters before his high school graduation and joined the team in 1954. He missed a game in 1955 because of a bad bowl of goulash in Germany, but that was the last one he sat out. What followed was a run, by his calculations, of more than 16,000 straight games that took him to places he never could have imagined.

"I was one of the most fortunate athletes that ever lived," he said. "I was able to watch history."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

I took him (and the Globetrotters) for granted as a kid. My high school's booster club had an ongoing contract with the Globetrotters, and they would appear in my hometown every year at the local college stadium. I just assume that they were like the circus, and were appearing in every town every year.

RIP.

RIP, Meadowlark. Thanks for the laughs.

RIP

Grew up watching him and Curley. Thanks for the fun and laughs.

RIP.

Rick A.

My Dad was a big Globetrotters fan, and I used to love to watch the games with him.
The Globetrotters were a joy to see.

Rest In Peace.

Lucky to have gotten to experience the tail end of the glory days with Meadowlark, Geese, Curly, Twiggy, Sweet Lou, Nate, etc. (with the joy being reinforced by their ubiquity on '70s television, including the cartoons). Thanks for the great memories, Meadowlark! Rest in peace, Great Clown Prince of Basketball.

I've never been a sports fan, but I always enjoyed watching Meadowlark Lemon and the Harlem Globetrotters on ABC's Wide World Of Sports.

I'm sad--as a kid, I loved the Globetrotters' Saturday morning TV show (the "Popcorn Machine") so much that my stated career goal as a first-grader was to be a Harlem Globetrotter. That ball-handling stuff he could do absolutely mesmerized me.

RIP

R.I.P.

My sentiments exactly. I love that they actually made me interested in something I had no interest in.

RIP.

I loved watching the Globetrotters on Wide World Of Sports - the act never got old. I loved watching Meadowlark and Curley Neal. The act never got old.

Saw the Globetrotters at the old Philly Spectrum in the late 70s. During the pre-game warm up, Meadowlark was giving a tv interview at center court all the while lobbing huge arching shots at the net ... one swish after another. Incredible.