PHOENIX (KSAZ) - It was a big day at St. Vincent de Paul, as many community members and several celebrities came out to dedicated a basketball court to the one and only, Meadowlark Lemon.
"St. Vincent de Paul was a place he loved to come and speak and he enjoyed seeing everyone here and he was always wanting to give and that brought joy to him," Cynthia Lemon, Meadowlark's wife, said.
Meadowlark Lemon is a hall of fame basketball legend, a member of the Harlem Globetrotters and a profound member of the community. He died four-months-ago at the age of 83.
"He fell asleep," Cynthia said. "I thought he was sleeping and he went very peacefully and very, very happy."
His wife of 22 years says he was getting ready to rejoin the Harlem Globetrotters right before he passed.
Cynthia says the Globetrotters were his first family.
"Because he didn't have a mom and dad raising him, when he joined the Globetrotters, that was his first real family, and he stayed with them for decades and have always loved being a part of that," she said.
Today, the Globetrotters also honored Meadowlark's wife.
"We want to honor Cynthia Lemon and with her own Harlem Globetrotter's jersey," they said.
The Globie's had many thank to give Meadowlark for paving the way.
"We get to celebrate special people in our lives and Meadowlark was one of those special people," "Buckets" said. "I know we're the newer generation of Globetrotters, but we wouldn't be here without him and everything that he's brought."
Now that lesson is turning into a movie with the help of actor Kevin Sizemore, who met Meadowlark two years ago.
"Our goal is to work with relentless media and get this film of his life made," he said. "That's our goal, is to tell the Meadowlark Lemon story."
Meadowlark would have been 84-year-old today.