[4] Lemon was born in Wilmington, North Carolina and attended Williston Industrial School, graduating in 1952.

[7][8] He then matriculated at Florida A&M University, but was soon drafted into the United States Army and served for two years in Austria and West Germany.

[12] In 2000, Lemon received the John Bunn Award,[13] the highest honor given by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame outside induction.

In 1980, Lemon appeared as the coach of the basketball team from The White Shadow in a series of guest skits for Order/Disorder week on 3-2-1 Contact.

In 1983, Lemon appeared on an episode of Alice entitled "Tommy Fouls Out", and in a Charmin toilet paper commercial alongside Mr. Whipple (actor Dick Wilson).

In 2006, on episode of adult swim's The Boondocks entitled "The Itis", the name of Meadowlark was used as the name of the park that Ed Wuncler I mentions an interest in purchasing from the state.

[21][22] Lemon had 10 children: Richard, George, Beverly, Donna, Robin, Jonathan, Jamison, Angela, Crystal, and Caleb.

[23] A born-again Christian, Lemon became an ordained minister in 1986 and received a Doctor of Divinity degree from Vision International University in Ramona, California, in 1988.