The Detroit Lions will honor Tom Kowalski by naming the press lounge in the team's Allen Park facility after

, President Tom Lewand said Friday at a memorial gathering.

Hundreds of friends, family members, fans and co-workers -- many wearing Lions t-shirts emblazoned with "Killer" above the number one -- gathered outside Cheli's Chilli bar in downtown Detroit, where Lewand wrapped up the ceremony with a moving tribute.

"If each one of us could be as good at our jobs as Tom was his, this would be a much better world," Lewand said, "and I can guarantee you we wouldn't have been 0-16 at some point."

In addition to the media lounge, the Lions will donate a portion of concession sales from the team's home opener to Kowalski's two favorite charities and will start a sports journalism scholarship in his name.

Lewand said team will pick one intern each summer "and send him or her back to journalism school with a little extra money in his or her pocket to make sure that they have the opportunity to try to become the next sheep dog to keep us all in line and bash us over the head."

The team chose to recognize Kowalski in three ways because of his special relationship with fans, what he meant to people in the organization and how he treated Allen Park as a home away from home.

"He was not a member of our organization, as you know," Lewand said, "but he enriched the Detroit Lions because he was a unique connection between our organization and the fans."

Kowalski, who covered the Lions for more than 30 years with The Oakland Press, Booth Newspapers and MLive.com,

.

Watch Lewand's full tribute to Kowalski in the embedded player above.