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Before Michael Jordan, one of the world’s most famous basketball players was another native of the North Carolina city of Wilmington: Meadowlark Lemon.
在迈克尔·乔丹(Michael Jordan)之前，世界上最为著名的篮球运动员之一也是一位来自北卡罗来纳州威尔明顿市的本地人：梅多拉克·莱蒙(Meadowlark Lemon)。
Lemon, who was born on this day in 1932, never played in the National Basketball Association. That’s because when Lemon, above front row third from left, joined the Harlem Globetrotters in 1954, their mix of comedy and basketball legerdemain was the biggest draw in the game.
莱蒙生于1932年的今天，他从未在全国篮球协会（National Basketball Association，简称NBA）打过球。这是因为当莱蒙（上图前排左三）1953年加入哈林篮球队(Harlem Globetrotters)时，他们对喜剧和篮球花招的融合是比赛中最具吸引力的地方。
The team played thousands of exhibitions around the world for millions of fans — and even helped America fight Communist propaganda during the Cold War.
这支球队在全世界为数百万球迷进行过成千上万次表演——甚至还在冷战时期帮助美国抗击共产主义宣传。
Despite their name, the Globetrotters were founded in Chicago in 1926 and didn’t play a game in Harlem until 1968. Lemon led the team to the height of its fame in the 1970s. Their roster wasn’t just filled with court jesters, either. They could play.
尽管名为“哈林篮球队”，但这支球队其实是1926年于芝加哥成立的，它直到1968年才在哈林打过球。莱蒙带领着该球队在1970年代声望达到了顶点。他们的花名册上也不仅仅只有表演者。他们能打球。
The Globetrotters have been credited with integrating the N.B.A. by beating the all-white Minneapolis Lakers in 1948 and 1949. The next year, the Globetrotters’ Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton became the first black player to sign a contract with the league.
哈林篮球队在1948年及1949年打败全是白人的明尼阿波利斯湖人队(Minneapolis Lakers)，为NBA的种族融合作出了贡献。第二年，哈林篮球队的纳特·“甜水”·克利夫顿(Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton)成为了首位与联盟签订合同的黑人球员。
Lemon, who died in 2015, wrote in his memoir about the Globetrotters: “They had done more for the perception of black people and for the perception of America than almost anything you could think of.”
2015年去世的莱蒙在回忆录中这样描述哈林篮球队：“他们为人们对黑人的认知，以及人们对美国的认知所做的，远远超出你们的想像。”
