Who's who of Israeli basketball pay final respects to Moni Fanan

Maccabi Tel Aviv officials, basketball executives, former coaches and fans were among the attendees at the funeral yesterday of Moni Fanan, recalling his rise from enthusiastic fan to manager. During his long tenure, he was praised for his generosity - distributing free tickets, making donations for operations - and his enveloping love.

Absent were the current players and heads of Maccabi, who were unable to move up their scheduled flights back from the U.S. Only a few dozen fans showed up, though heads of various Maccabi fan clubs brought wreaths.

Former players Aulcie Perry, Willie Sims, Nadav Henefeld and Tomer Steinhauer were joined by current stars Yotam Halperin and Nikola Vujcic of Olympiacos and Sarunas "Saras" Jasikevicius of Panathinaikos, the latter three arriving on a special flight from Greece.

The funeral was low-key yet proud, as Fanan - who committed suicide Monday - was in life. His son Regev made the opening address and broke into tears after reading the mourner's Kaddish.

"I'm not angry, father," said the younger Fanan. "You left us only after you saw that everyone was taken care of, when you saw that Yotam got married, that Omri [Casspi] adjusted to the NBA, that Anthony [Parker] settled into Cleveland, that Nikola got healthy again, that Saras is still crazy and that Liron (Fanan) is living the good life."

He apologized to his father for not giving him grandchildren before his untimely death, but promised they would hear much about him.