Chicago Pays Respects to Stormin' Norman Van Lier

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: Chicago Pays Respects to Stormin' Norman Van Lier : by Mike Puccinelli : Mar 1, 2009 5:55 pm US/Central : ------------------------------------------ : CHICAGO (CBS2) - From the city's sports stars, to the fans who cheer them, lots of folks are remembering Norm Van Lier Sunday evening. : The former Bulls player and TV commentator died Thursday. His wake was held on Chicago Avenue. CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reports on those who paid their respects. : A March snow storm did little to slow the stream of mourners at Michalik Funeral Home on Chicago's North Side who came to pay tribute to Stormin' Norman Van Lier. : "Such a great figure in Chicago and I think that's borne out by the number of people that are here on such a frigid and snowy day," said Chicago Tribune Bull's beat writer K.C. Johnson. : The three-time NBA All Star was remembered Sunday by those who played with him on the court during his six years with the Bulls and those who worked with him later in the broadcast booth. : "Everybody loved him and why? Because he was just like everybody else," said ex-Bear and co-host of Comcast Sportsnet "Monsters in the Morning" Dan Jiggetts. "He's the same guy that would sit down and have a burger with you and the same guy that would sit down and announce a championship game." : Former Chicago Bears great and 'Chicago NFL Live" radio talk show host Doug Buffone got to know Van Lier as a fellow member of the exclusive fraternity of professional athletes in Chicago. : "We'd be walking down the street and a guy who was just down and out, Storm would reach into his pocket and hand him some money and we'd go down the street and he'd say: 'you know Doug E. Fresh, we're lucky,'" Buffone said : Fred Mitchell was writing a book with Van Lier when the former point guard died unexpectedly. He said behind his celebrated feistiness, Van Lier was at heart a family man who often longed to see his loved ones -- many of whom still live out east. : "He was sort of a contradiction, in terms of being the happy-go-lucky guy that most of us saw on television; and yet he had his very lonely moments, and was tortured that way," said Tribune columnist Fred Mitchell. : Jiggets said his broadcast colleague's sudden death made him think of the fragility of life and how he wished that Van Lier had been honored at the United Center before he died like fellow Bulls legend Johnny 'Red" Kerr. : "The one thing I truly wish is that we had an opportunity to honor him over at the United Center and let the world know what we thought of Norm Van Lier much like we've done with Johnny," Jiggetts said. "I think Norm deserved that and he certainly deserves it now. I'd like to see his number two up in the rafters." : Van Lier's funeral will take place Monday at 10:30 a.m.at the Fourth Presbyterian Church on Michigan Avenue and Delaware Street. His body will then be flown to Pennsylvania, so he can be laid to rest near his boyhood home. : The city is also morning the loss of Johnny "Red" Kerr. His visitation is Tuesday and Wednesday from 2-9 p.m. at the Chapel Hill Gardens West Funeral Home in Oakbrook Terrace. His funeral will be held Thursday at 11 a.m. at Chapel Hill Gardens West Cemetery. Instead of flowers, donations to the National Association for Down Syndrome is suggested.

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