"Individuals can't get enough of the limelight. It's easy to have people telling you how great and wonderful you are rather than otherwise," Blake said.

"The sad part is many times the public likes to be close to you not because of who you are but what you do."

Police labeled his death homicide Sunday, revealing McNair had been shot four times — twice in the head, twice in the chest when found in a rented condominium he shared with a longtime friend, Wayne Neeley. Police found a semiautomatic pistol under Kazemi's body.

But police spokesman Don Aaron said they were reviewing every possibility, interviewing friends of both and an ex-boyfriend before labeling Kazemi's death.

On the football field, he simply was "Air McNair," a winner.

McNair still holds the NCAA's Football Championship Series (formerly Division I-AA) records for career yards passing (14,496) and total offense (16,823) from his days at tiny Alcorn State in Mississippi.

He played 13 NFL seasons, starting with the then-Houston Oilers, and led Tennessee to its famous last-second 2000 Super Bowl loss to the St. Louis Rams. He ended his career in Baltimore last season, after being traded away by the Titans after they drafted Vince Young as a replacement to the aching and expensive veteran.

A four-time Pro Bowler, he shared the NFL's MVP award with Peyton Manning in 2003.

"Many of our defensive players talked about what a huge challenge it was playing against him," Manning said in a statement. "He and I had some great battles against each other."

McNair never acknowledged any of his numerous injuries on the field, even in one game when the painkilling shot wore off before he drove the Titans to a touchdown and ran in for the tying 2-point conversion. Then he led them to the winning field goal.

Young called McNair, a father figure since Young was a teenager, "Pops."

"I hear his advice in my head with everything I do. Life will be very different without him," Young said in a statement.

McNair's friends want the quarterback to be remembered for his generosity. He gave away turkeys and checks in Tennessee, toys in Baltimore and paid for three football camps himself this year. Cook talked to someone Saturday who saw McNair cleaning up the field after one camp at Southern Mississippi.

"That was Steve McNair. That's who he is. And who he was," an emotional Cook recalled.

Cook described Mechelle, who married McNair in 1997, as "very upset, very distraught." A viewing will be held Thursday at a Nashville funeral home, followed by another viewing at Mount Zion Baptist Church with a memorial service Thursday night. A funeral service will be held Saturday in Mississippi, but final details were not set.