Tulsa World: Thousands gather in downtown Tulsa to honor Tisdale

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Thousands gather in downtown Tulsa to honor Tisdale

Flowers are placed on Wayman Tisdale's casket during the Memorial Service at the BOK Center. CORY YOUNG/Tulsa World

By Staff Reports
Published: 5/21/2009 8:58 AM
Last Modified: 5/21/2009 8:05 PM

Sports Editor Mike Strain’s blog: Why was this guy at Wayman’s funeral?

Jimmie Tramel: Tales of Tisdale

The OU blog: Rest in peace, Wayman

John Klein’s blog: Celebration of Life was fitting title.

Tribute to Tisdale: View the Tulsa World's archive of stories about Wayman Tisdale, watch slide shows and video, read others' memories of Wayman and share your own.

Basketball, music and joy.

All describe Wayman Tisdale. All were on display -- along with tears and grief -- as 4,000 mourners came to the BOK Center for the basketball star and jazz musician's memorial service today.

In a three-hour, 40-minute service highlighted by spirited music, images of Tisdale and a powerful 33-minute eulogy from his brother Weldon, friends and relatives memorialized Tisdale's life. Tisdale died at age 44 last week after a two-year battle with cancer.

"Wayman loved you for who you were," said Friendship Baptist Church pastor Weldon Tisdale, when he described why his brother seemed to be universally loved. "... If he met anybody on the street, he made you feel like you were his best friend."

The funeral started with a three-mile procession of Tisdale's casket, carried by horse-drawn carriage to the BOK Center.

Preceded by a pallbearer holding a basketball over his head and accompanied by a Tisdale musical arrangement, Tisdale's casket entered the BOK Center, carried by 10 pallbearers in unison jazz step. The audience applauded.

After several prayers, scripture readings — including an Old Testament verse by former Los Angeles Lakers forward and L.A. minister A.C. Green — gospel singer Fred Hammond incited the gathering to a near rock-concert frenzy with his rendition of "This is the Day."

Country singer Toby Keith also performed. Keith said the family had asked him to speak but his connection with Tisdale was through music.

“I wrote a song for him, but there’s no way I could possibly get through it here today,” he said.

Instead, Keith played "Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground" by Willie Nelson.

Below the stage, unique floral arrangements depicted aspects of Tisdale's life: a life-sized white bass guitar and a replica of an OU jersey. An orange "82" represented the year Tisdale graduated from Booker T. Washington High School.

Tisdale's casket was adorned with flowers. On stage -- just above the casket -- a basketball was placed on a pedestal. A guitar was placed at the other end of the casket.

At 10:40 a.m., ex-Sooner star Blake Griffin made his way to the front of the floor section and shook hands with several basketball dignitaries and Tisdale's friends before taking a seat between OU athletics director Joe Castiglione and current OU men's basketball coach Jeff Capel.

Griffin, wearing Tisdale's retired No. 23 jersey during his two years at Oklahoma, was the consensus National Player of the Year and is expected to be the No. 1 pick in next month's NBA Draft. Tisdale was the No. 2 pick in the 1985 draft.

Other ex-Sooner players and coaches also shared their thoughts on Tisdale at a press conference at the BOK Center before the funeral, including Heisman trophy winner Billy Sims.

"I'm just here on behalf of some of the Sooner Nation to show respect for him and his family," Sims said. "May he rest in peace."

Ex-Sooner head football coaches Barry Switzer and John Blake said they both remember the same thing about Tisdale.

"(I told) Wayman, you know they can take that leg, but they can never take that smile," Switzer said. "And Wayman smiled and said, 'That's right coach. They'll never be able to take that.'"

"That's the thing I will remember about Wayman Tisdale, is his smile," Blake said. "I believe he went to sleep with that same smile he had all his life."

Rory Sparrow, vice president of NBA player development and a former Tisdale teammate, also expressed his sympathy to Tisdale's family, friends and fans.

"We have lost an ambassador to the sport and to the game," Sparrow said.

Before the funeral started, an entourage including a police escort, 10 limousines, a black SUV, two tour buses and dozens of private cars caused traffic to halt. Hundreds of spectators fell silent as the horse-drawn carriage passed down Pine Street.

"What matters to me isn't the basketball," said Carlton Bonds, who came to see the procession despite never meeting or even seeing Tisdale in person. "He was a good man who inspired other people to live right and do good things. That's what made him an important person."

Lori Eubank and her two teenage sons waited for the carriage in front of the BOK Center before going inside for the funeral. "This is a historic event, something we're all going to remember for a long time."

"I used to go to Norman to watch him and he was the best basketball player I ever saw," said Tracey McGinnis. "I never thought I would be going to his funeral. He was too young for this to happen."

Tisdale was one of America's top recruits when he completed his high school basketball career at Booker T. Washington in 1982. He signed with Oklahoma and become a three-time All-American and was the first freshman All-American in college basketball history. He won an Olympic gold medal in 1984.

Tisdale left OU after his junior season and was a first-round draft choice of the Indiana Pacers in 1985. It started a 12-year NBA career.

After he retired in 1997, he focused on his jazz career and became an award-winning artist. Three of his eight albums reached No. 1 on Billboard's contemporary jazz charts.

--- John Hoover, Michael Overall, Mike Strain and Jimmie Tramel contributed to this report.

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Reader comments for this story have been moved to the most updated version of the story, now under the headline "Recalling that smile: 4,000 attend services for Wayman Tisdale," which was published on 5/22/2009. So far, 37 comments have been made.