OLD FRIENDS, EX-FOES PAY TRIBUTE TO WILT.

Byline: Sherry Joe Crosby Staff Writer

Wilt Chamberlain was remembered Saturday not as the basketball legend who transformed the sport and scored 100 points in a single game, but as a Renaissance man whose inquisitive spirit, humor and generosity made him a hero off court as much as on.

Chamberlain showed ``unbridled, unrestrained curiosity, intelligence and inquisitiveness,'' said former Boston Celtics center and longtime rival Bill Russell, one of several hundred mourners who attended the funeral at the City of Angels Church of Religious Science in Mar Vista.

``As we got older, the more we liked each other because we knew we're joined at the hips,'' Russell said. ``We will be friends to eternity.''

Chamberlain was found dead Oct. 12 at his Bel-Air home, the victim of a heart attack. He was 63.

Saturday's service drew members of a veritable basketball hall of fame, including Lakers' general manager Jerry West, Clippers' general manager Elgin Baylor, former Boston Celtics player Bill Walton, former New York Knicks player Willis Reed and NBA greats Connie Hawkins, Bob Lanier and Nate Thurmond.

Inside the sanctuary, atop a red-carpeted stage, sat two photos of the man once known as ``the Big Dipper'' and ``Wilt the Stilt'': one depicting him in his purple-and-gold Lakers uniform and the other showing him holding aloft a placard with the numeral 100.

Bernie Casey, a former wide receiver with the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers, described Chamberlain as a fascinating man who could quote statistics from 1910 and showed an interest in everything from politics and racism to economics and finance.

``Until you knew him as a man, as a person, you never knew how fascinating he was,'' Casey said. ``Dippy is looking over us. He went to an exalted place; he was an exalted man.''

Former Harlem Globetrotters teammate and friend Meadowlark Lemon recalled Chamberlain's giant appetite - he would consume two cans of salmon, two quarts of milk and two loaves of bread before a game. He also recalled Chamberlain's giant talent.

``At the Cow Palace in San Francisco he dunked the ball so hard it hit the floor, bounced back up through the basket and down through the basket again,'' Lemon said. ``That's the Dippy that I knew. I know Dippy is not here in the flesh, but he's here with me in the spirit, and that's deeper than I could ever have.''

David Shaw, a Los Angeles Times writer who co-wrote Chamberlain's autobiography, recalled the basketball superstar as the ``most unforgettable person I've ever known.''

``What made him unique was his behavior off court and out of the limelight,'' said Shaw, who recounted how Chamberlain would call him in the wee hours on trivia-hunting forays. Shaw also recalled how Chamberlain once helped several friends debark from a boat that pulled up several feet short of a dock on San Francisco Bay.

``He picked up each of us full-grown adults like 5-pound sacks of flour, laughing throughout,'' Shaw said. The incident showed ``his determination to overcome any obstacle, the determination to help his friends and his ability to laugh at the absurdity of any situation,'' Shaw said.

Dr. Anthony Reid, Chamberlain's cardiologist since 1992, recalled his former patient's generosity. Chamberlain made a guest appearance at the basketball camp of Reid's 8-year-old son and refused to leave until he had signed autographs for every fan.

`` `I came here with a job to do, and I'm not going to leave until my job is done,' '' Reid recalled Chamberlain as saying. ``That's how he lived his life. Now the great doctor has called him and said his job is done.''

Several relatives also eulogized Chamberlain, including his sister Barbara Lewis, who remembered her brother as a mischievous boy who would awaken early to assist the milkman and iceman.

```Momma, I'm going to make a lot of money when I grow up, and I can't stay in the bed. I've got things to do,''' Lewis recalled Chamberlain telling their mother.

She said her brother continued an active lifestyle throughout his life, making movies, writing books, learning to play the saxophone, pursuing volleyball and writing a screenplay of his life.

``He was so busy doing, I'm not surprised his heart was tired,'' said Lewis, who said her brother benefited from their parents' love and affection.

``He ended up being a giving, loving and big-mouthed person,'' Lewis said to laughter from the audience.

Seymour Goldberg, Chamberlain's attorney and friend for 40 years, recalled the soft heart that Chamberlain hid beneath a tough exterior.

``Inside he was a pussycat,'' said Goldberg, who said Chamberlain gave money to almost anyone. ``It was private philanthropy. It was always direct to the person who needed it, and it was not publicized.''

During his eulogy, Goldberg also read a poem Chamberlain wrote about a month before his death.

Titled ``Ode to Sy, the Traveling Man,'' Chamberlain ended his verse with a postscript, ``A man who stands 7 feet tall, but unlike Sy doesn't move at all.''

``He wasn't a basketball player,'' Goldberg said. ``He was a great, great human being who happened to be a basketball player.''

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