updated 8:25 p.m. ET Aug. 9, 2007

STANFORD, Calif. - Bill Walsh planned his own memorial service in the months before his death with the same meticulous attention he paid to every aspect of the San Francisco 49ers.

Even when a lengthy battle with leukemia finally sapped his strength last month, Walsh made sure Thursday’s quietly buoyant tribute would be a celebration of a Hall of Fame coach’s life, as well as a chance for hundreds of old friends to reunite in praise and mourning.

Thousands of 49ers fans are expected at Monster Park on Friday for a public farewell for Walsh. A public memorial is set for 11 a.m. PT.

“He said he wasn’t scared,” Mike White, a longtime friend and coaching colleague, said of his final conversation with Walsh. “He said he was at peace, and he said he was ready to go. It was the most impressive display of courage I’ve ever seen.”

Walsh’s family and a remarkable cross-section of the football fraternity gathered reverently at Stanford Memorial Church to praise the 49ers great as both an innovative leader and a loyal friend. More than 1,000 mourners honored Walsh, who died July 30 at 75.

They walked to the church through solemn rows of Stanford football players wearing their jerseys in honor of the coach who won three Super Bowls and revolutionized many aspects of football during a decade on the San Francisco sideline.

“He was a man who stood astride the football culture in America like a colossus for 10 years,” said Harry Edwards, a noted sports sociologist and longtime friend who delivered Walsh’s eulogy. “He walked with generals, senators and secretaries of state, but never lost his common touch.”

David Gonzales / AP Hall of Fame quarterback and former 49ers great Joe Montana speaks at a memorial service for Bill Walsh.

Hall of Fame quarterbacks Joe Montana and Steve Young made poignant remarks in a ceremony livened by joyous music from San Francisco’s famed Glide Ensemble choir — just as Walsh envisioned when he made arrangements and issued instruction for the day.

“Bill died the way he lived: with sublime grace and with class,” said former 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo, who hired Walsh. “Up until the very end, Bill led us by example. ... Nearing the end, he always said that we were in the fourth quarter. Bill managed that fourth quarter with flawless accuracy.”

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Sen. Dianne Feinstein also spoke to the congregation, praising Walsh’s forward thinking and vision.

Feinstein, the San Francisco mayor when Walsh took over the 49ers in 1979, praised the coach and his players for providing an immeasurable lift to their beleaguered city.

When Walsh arrived, San Francisco was reeling from a trio of devastating blows: the assassination of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk; the deaths of around 900 Californians in the Jonestown tragedy; and the public emergence of the AIDS virus in the city.

“Bill Walsh was a legend for us,” Feinstein said. “What he gave to this city was putting together a team that would and could and did.”

Walsh, who didn’t become a head coach until he was 47, went 102-63-1 with the 49ers, winning 10 of his 14 postseason games along with six division titles. He was voted NFL Coach of the Year in 1981 and 1984.

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