RAYTOWN, MO. ? About 1,000 people gathered Friday to remember former major league catcher Darrell Porter as a loving friend.

“He touched people’s lives,” said E.M. Hay, pastor of Noland Road Baptist Church in Independence. “He loved people all people, not just people of position and prominence.”

Porter, 50, of Lee’s Summit, catcher for four major league teams, was found dead late Monday afternoon next to his car in a park. Autopsy results had not yet been released Friday, but authorities have said they do not suspect foul play.

Friday’s service at First Baptist Church in Raytown, a suburb of Kansas City, was attended by family, friends and former teammates from the Royals, including Frank White, Paul Splittorff, John Mayberry, Dennis Leonard and Fred Patek.

“What a privilege to be a friend of Darrell Porter’s,” said the Rev. Charles Funderburk, associate pastor of the church. “I don’t know why Darrell loved me, but he did.”

Jerry Terrell, a former teammate and longtime family friend, recalled a time when Porter unexpectedly purchased a punch bowl that Terrell’s wife had wanted.

“In all those things that Darrell did for people, he never once asked for anything in return. Never,” a tearful Terrell said.

“We went back and reminisced and we thought about all the things. He never asked for anything in return.

“So all I’ve got to say is this: Darrell, I love you, man. I really miss you. Thanks for the memories.”

Friends also remembered Porter as a devout Christian who took every opportunity to share his faith.

“You rarely, if ever, got a signature from Darrell without a ‘Proverbs 3:5-6’ on it,” Hay said.

Porter is survived by his wife, Deanne, and three children Lindsey, 20; Jeff, 18; and Ryan, 14. None of them spoke at the funeral.

Porter grew up in Oklahoma City, where he was an all-state quarterback at Southeast High School in 1969 and the state’s baseball player of the year in 1970. He signed to play football at Oklahoma but chose baseball.

He broke into the majors in 1971 with the Milwaukee Brewers, who traded him to the Royals after the 1976 season. He was an All-Star twice in his four years with Kansas City.

But he began abusing cocaine, Quaaludes, marijuana, and alcohol.

In 1980, he left spring training and entered a drug rehabilitation clinic. He later chronicled his fight with addiction and recovery from it in a 1984 book, “Snap Me Perfect! The Darrell Porter Story.”