SAGINAW, Texas -- Quick, someone hum "Sweet Georgia Brown." Go find Geese and Curly, the rubber-band basketball and the bucket of confetti. Round up the Washington Generals for yet another lesson in futility.
Meadowlark is smiling, and he has a basketball in his hand. Surely, that must mean it's showtime.
Not today. Fun isn't the only focus of Camp Meadowlark. There's work to be done, lessons to be taught. Today, Meadowlark Lemon the famed former Harlem Globetrotter is Meadowlark Lemon the not-as-famous basketball camp director.
"We teach them love, basketball skills, how to live, how to treat people," says Lemon, who travels the country teaching and preaching to children through his basketball camps. "The Bible says, 'Raise a child in the way he should go.' I'm a minister. This is what I do."
'They can tell if you're sincere'
It has been nine years since Lemon started teaching the gospel, six since he started conducting basketball camps and 15 since he retired his red, white and blue Globetrotters uniform.
None of his three-day pupils at Elkins Elementary was born when the Globetrotters were regulars on the Saturday morning cartoons, but there Lemon is, casting a magical spell over them with his star-spangled smile as if this were a "Wide World of Sports" special.
"For me, it has not changed," Lemon says. "The kids still run up and hug me. They can tell if you're sincere."
This is 8-year-old Justin Swords' first experience with Lemon, in person or otherwise. He knows Lemon is famous, but he can say only vaguely why.
"I like him because he can shoot far," Swords says. "I want to learn to shoot like that."
Lemon is confident those at his camps will become proficient at the game if they continue to work at it. His concern is discipline, in the way they play and the way they live.
Discipline is heavily incorporated into Camp Meadowlark. Campers are expected to sit the right way, stand in their proper place and be quiet when Lemon or his staff addresses them.
Won't tell his age
"What I see in the world is a lot of young people who have not been taught right," Lemon says. "When we grew up, people in the neighborhood took on that job. Now if you do that, you get thrown in jail.
"Hopefully, they'll take what we do here, and what someone else does next week, and so forth. You can't do it all at one time."
Lemon, who does not divulge his age, turned down several basketball and football scholarship offers out of high school in Wilmington, N.C. He saw the Globetrotters for the first time when he was 11 and says he decided that day he would one day be one.
He not only became a Globetrotter in 1957, Lemon became its most recognizable face. He brought humor into the act and made the audience part of the show. His smile became the icon of the Globetrotters.
He is nearing a personal milestone with the Harlem All-Stars, a team he formed after retiring from the Globetrotters in 1979.
"I'm about 30 games away from 10,000," he says. "It'll be played in a place that seats about 10,000. I'll be inviting a lot of my friends."
Lamont Robinson is a buddy
Among Lemon's countless buddies is Lamont Robinson, who plays and recruits for the All-Stars and helps with the basketball camps. Robinson was a NAIA All-American at Central Michigan State who played professionally in Europe and in the Continental Basketball Association.
Working with Lemon, Robinson says, is the highlight of his basketball career.
"My dad used to take me to see the Globetrotters every year, and I watched the cartoons," he says. "I dreamed about playing for the Globetrotters one day. Now I'm working with him, and he sometimes asks me what I think. I've found my niche."
Lemon discovered his place in life long ago. On a basketball court or in a pulpit, he simply wants to reach people, show them he cares. He has done so on every continent to people of practically every language.
They all seem to understand. Especially the children.
"If I can't teach these kids, I don't want to be with them," Lemon says. "If I can't hug them, I don't want to be here."
Lemon does not know the name of the youngster who just missed yet another layup, but he can see the frustration in the boy's eyes. Lemon heads straight for him.
"You're much better than you were two hours ago," Lemon says. That and a high five are enough to get the boy to try again.
+ Lemon can't help but smile.