BRIDGEPORT — On April 25th of this year the Ohio Valley lost one of its icons when John Havlicek died at the age of 79.

Friday evening at Bridgeport High School, the Ohio Valley will have the ability to formally pay its respects.

A memorial service — expected to last upwards of an hour — will be held inside the John J. Havlicek Gymnasium at 6 p.m.

The event, which is being organized by long-time friends of Havlicek Gordie Longshaw and Stephanie Mendelson, was given a blessing to be held by Havlicek’s widow, Beth.

“We would have never done this without the blessing of John’s family,” Longshaw said. “She’s been having a rough time with this, obviously, so we wanted to make sure she’s OK with everything before we’ve proceeded.”

The arrangements, which are being handled by Wilson’s Funeral Home in Bridgeport, include a guest book that all attendees will be asked to sign. Longshaw will then send that onto Havlicek’s wife.

“Beth wanted the guest book,” Longshaw said.

The ceremony will include a video presentation that was put together by Bridgeport students.

There will also be remarks from a few of Havlicek’s high school teammates, including Jerry Mountain, who was two years ahead of Havlicek, and Butch Thomas, who was two years behind him.”

According to Longshaw and Mendelson, some members of Havlicek’s family, who still live in the Ohio Valley, will be attending as well.

Class of 1965 Bridgeport graduate Dan Barritt, who is a retired pastor, will lead the ceremony.

Originally, the service was slated for late July, but a few minor details were still to be worked out, causing the date to be pushed back.

Longshaw was planning to have Havlicek’s Ohio State teammate and former roommate in Columbus — Jerry Lucas — as the keynote speaker for the service. However, Lucas, who now resides in California, couldn’t free this weekend up to come back.

“I was going to be there when it was scheduled for July,” Lucas said during a phone interview. “I just couldn’t make it this month. Gordie apologized about the fact that it wasn’t done last month.”

Lucas, who is often times credited with playing a major role in helping to convince Havlicek to attend Ohio State instead of West Virginia, which was believed to have had the lead for his services.

The two, who had never met or seen each other play in high school, were teammates in the Ohio North-South Game. At that point, Lucas, who had already committed to the Buckeyes, immediately began talking to ‘Hondo’ about coming to Columbus.

“John didn’t think he was good enough to play at Ohio State and thought he’d have a better chance of playing at WVU,” Lucas recalled. “I said, ‘what are you talking about? You’re good enough to play anywhere in the country.”

Havlicek eventually joined the Buckeyes and a life-long friendship was forever formed.

The last time Lucas saw Havlicek was at an event to honor Fred Taylor — their collegiate coach — in Zanesville a few summers ago.

“We just went our separate ways once we got into the pros and lived in different parts of the country,” Lucas said. “We didn’t see each other nearly enough.”

Lucas indicated that if he had been able to attend Friday’s service, he would have talked very little about basketball.

“I remember things that we did together in college, or the 10 days one summer when I stayed with him and his parents at their home in Bridgeport or an incredible fishing trip we went on,” Lucas said. “Those are the kinds of things I remember most about John. He was a great man.”

Because of an illness, Lucas was unable to attend Havlicek’s funeral in Boston in April.

“I had RSVP’d, but I got really sick and simply was too weak to travel,” Lucas offered. “I felt terrible physically and worse that I wasn’t able to go.”

Along with the service, Longshaw and Mendelson are also initiating a Havlicek Memorial Scholarship, which will be presented to a graduating Bridgeport senior. The first one is expected to be presented in the spring.

“We wanted to keep John’s memory alive in Bridgeport,” Longshaw said. “We just kind of thought a scholarship would be a good way to do that.”

Havlicek’s obituary, which was published in Boston-area media outlets, asked for donations to be made toward Parkinson’s Disease. His obituary, which was published in Sunday’s Times Leader and Wheeling News-Register asked for donations to the newly found scholarship.