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Korey Stringer was an enormous man--one of the biggest in the NFL--but people who knew him best remember his childlike charm.

They remember how he didn’t bother to get a driver’s license until he was 22, even though his father conducted driving tests for the state of Ohio; how he happily donated his Pro Bowl bonus so his favorite Pop Warner team could buy new uniforms; how he stayed true to his hometown roots, even as a Minnesota Viking.

“Korey’s home wasn’t in Warren, but his heart was,” said Fredrick Harris, the town’s director of public safety and one of more than 1,500 mourners who attended Stringer’s funeral Monday at this city’s First Assembly of God church.

Stringer, 27, died Wednesday of heatstroke complications after the second day of Viking training camp, making him the NFL’s first player to die that way.

His death has turned the spotlight on NFL training camps, which continue to be plagued by heat-related problems. Four players from two teams left practice Monday after suffering symptoms related to the heat, while a fifth was hospitalized after experiencing shortness of breath and an irregular heartbeat.

Two hours before Stringer’s funeral, which was closed to reporters, a stream of limousines and luxury cars began arriving at the nondescript brick church. Later, clusters of fans--some with folding chairs and umbrellas to better cope with the sweltering heat--waited in a supermarket parking lot across the street, some hoping to catch a glimpse of an NFL star. Others came to show their support for a local hero.

“I used to watch Korey play every Friday night,” said Theresa Kessel, who watched from across the street with her teenage son. “Just to know he’s from our community is special. He didn’t leave and then look down on the people. He was one of us.”

Stringer, who lived in the Minneapolis area, was one of the Vikings’ most popular players. That was evident in how many NFL players attended. Among them: Cris Carter, Randy Moss, Eddie George, Donovan McNabb, Joey Galloway, and Steve Tovar. They greeted each other with handshakes and hugs, massive men with charcoal suits and stylish sunglasses. They chatted quietly, steering clear of the 100 or so reporters and photographers waiting nearby under a shady stand of trees. Every so often, a player would wander near the trees, only to find himself surrounded by cameras and microphones.

“I just wanted to come and show my respect to Korey,” said St. Louis Ram tackle Orlando Pace, who played with Stringer at Ohio State. “He touched our lives and we’re fortunate for that.”

Inside the church, Stringer lay in his casket wearing a powder-blue suit with a purple Viking jersey across his chest. Every so often, a representative of his family emerged and provided funeral details. Among Stringer’s friends who performed readings were James Gould, his agent; Phil Annarella, his football coach at Harding High; and third-grade teacher Mary Sabol, who read excerpts from Stringer’s old report cards, detailing how he improved as a student.

The funeral lasted more than two hours, and the mourners were far less solemn as they left. Hundreds stood on the steps of the church, laughed and reminisced. Players and their wives mingled, some snapping informal group pictures.

Stringer was the pride of Warren, a town of 51,000 that produced the first Packard automobile and Hall of Fame receiver Paul Warfield.

“Korey was just a lovable guy,” said Alfie Burch, a former Michigan cornerback who grew up down the block from Stringer and counted him among his closest friends. “I think his wife summed it up when she said, ‘He’s real.’ That’s what he was. He was Korey at six in the morning, Korey at 2 in the afternoon, Korey at midnight. People respected that.”

Viking coaches Dennis Green and Mike Tice attended the funeral, leaving a skeletal staff of assistants to oversee a subdued practice at Mankato, Minn. The session drew about 1,000 fans, half the usual number, many of whom left flowers, cards and balloons in memory of Stringer.

“We couldn’t move on without coming here and really sending him off the way he should be sent off,” Carter said. “It’s a road we haven’t been down, so I really don’t know the path, there’s no path, there’s no Cliff’s Notes. As a team we’re really struggling.”

NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who attended a memorial service for Stringer last Friday in Edina, Minn., spent Monday at the Cleveland Browns’ camp in Berea, Ohio. He said he does not believe the league will change its training-camp schedule to reduce the risk of players suffering heatstroke.

“We feel very positive that this issue of heat, heat-related illness, is something our physicians and trainers have been on top of and will continue to be on top of,” he said.

Although he said the players’ union has never mentioned heat as a concern, Tagliabue believes the league needs to examine the potential risks involving larger and heavier players. He pointed out that, 15 years ago, there were fewer than 20 players over 300 pounds. Now, the league has more than 300 players weighing 300 pounds or more. Stringer reported to camp at 335 pounds, the lightest since his college days.

“You can intellectualize about the risk of the game, you can understand all the risks theoretically,” Tagliabue said, “but you never expect to lose a player, have a player die playing the game. It’s our obligation now to try to learn from that.”

Meanwhile, two Indianapolis Colt linemen who were helped from the field in Terre Haute, Ind., were among the four NFL players who left practice Monday because of heat-related problems.

Rookie offensive lineman Ryan Diem and second-year defensive tackle Josh Williams were taken on golf carts to the training room about 5 p.m. for treatment.

Coach Jim Mora said the players had heat-related illnesses but that they had appeared to recover. Temperatures in Terre Haute reached 88 degrees Monday, with a heat index of 95.

In Bethlehem, Pa., where the heat index neared 100, two Philadelphia Eagle players cut short their workouts.

Wide receiver Na Brown left the field midway through the morning practice and tackle Jon Runyan was taken off the field near the end. Brown returned for the afternoon practice while Runyan was treated intravenously and did not return. He will be reevaluated today.

In Tampa, Fla., rookie tight end Dauntae Finger of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was taken to a hospital for tests after experiencing shortness of breath and an irregular heartbeat during practice.

The seventh-round draft pick left the field sitting on the back of a cart. Later, he was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where the team said he would remain overnight for additional tests today.

Buccaneer Coach Tony Dungy said Finger was examined and found to have a “high pulse rate” and that his problem “does not appear to be heat-related.”

“I didn’t feel quite right out there,” Finger said in a statement released by the Buccaneers. “Obviously it is really hot out there, but I have been taking the necessary precautions to hydrate myself like the trainers and coaches have been talking to us about. I feel fine and I am looking forward to getting back with my teammates.”

In Mankato, an autopsy was performed on Stringer in the hours after his death and will not be complete until the results of some toxicology reports are known. His family has the right to withhold the autopsy results, but Minnesota law says that some of the information must be made public--such as cause of death, and causes of cause of death.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune filed a motion seeking to make the autopsy results public and that hearing was scheduled for Monday. It was later postponed at the newspaper’s request. Stringer’s family has requested that any information released should come from the Vikings, said Kevin Burns, spokesman for Immanuel St. Joseph’s Hospital in Mankato.

The state office of Occupational Safety and Health is investigating the death. James Honerman, an OSHA spokesman, said the investigation will continue for more than a month but that no one currently was on site because of the funeral.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Honerman said. “We have a lot of questions to ask the Vikings.”

Green has referred to Stringer’s death as “unexplainable,” but many inside and outside the NFL wonder if it might have been avoided. After all, Stringer vomited at least three times and was unable to finish the first practice of training camp, yet that was not enough to keep him from pushing things too far the next day.

Burch, who spent part of 1994 on the Dallas Cowboys’ roster, attended the funeral and said he feels anger about the death of a hulking man he called “a big huggy bear.”

“You’re taught to push yourself so much,” he said. “And someone should be in charge of recognizing it when a guy is going too hard. OK, I know he went to the Pro Bowl. I know he’s got to set the example. I know he’s a line captain. I know that. But someone should recognize, hey, pull him back.”

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.