NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

Meadowlark Lemon of Globetrotters dies

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.

Meadowlark Lemon, the “clown prince” of basketball’s barnstorming Harlem Globetrotters, whose blend of hook shots and humor brought joy to millions of fans around the world, has died. He was 83.

Lemon’s wife and daughter confirmed to the team that he died Sunday in Scottsdale, Ariz., Globetrotters spokesman Brett Meister said Monday. Meister did not know the cause of death.

Though skilled enough to play professionally, Lemon instead wanted to entertain, his dream of playing for the Globe-trotters hatched after watching a newsreel of the all-black team at a cinema house when he was 11.

Lemon ended up becoming arguably the team’s 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.

A sign of his crossover appeal, Lemon was inducted into both the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and the International Clown Hall of Fame.

Lemon 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. Known as the “Clown Prince of Basketball,” he averaged 325 games per year during his prime.

Motorhead frontman ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister dies

LOS ANGELES

Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister, the Motorhead frontman whose outsized persona made him a hero for generations of hard-rockers and metal-heads, has died.

Agent Andrew Goodfriend tells The Associated Press that Kilmister died Monday in Los Angeles after a brief battle with aggressive cancer.

Each of the band’s live shows would begin with Kilmister’s loud announcement: “We are Motorhead! We play rock and roll!”

Associated Press