Demond Cottman and his father had plans for his baby boy.
When Ayyub was born May 9, the two men were determined there wouldn't be the financial struggles they went through when Cottman was going to college.
"We promised we were going to get it right for his son," Demond Tally recalled.
Then, Cottman was fatally shot in the parking lot of the Hamilton Mall around 1 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving, as shoppers filled the stores on Black Friday.
Tally, an Atlantic City native, lost his only son and best friend in an instant. Ayyub Cottman wasn't yet 7 months old. The baby's parents had just started their family.
Cottman's 26-year-old brother was wounded in the shooting. His new wife was made a widow.
"She's holding on," Tally said of his daughter-in-law.
For him, it's an emptiness he can't explain.
"I don't know what this feeling is," he said Tuesday night, in the middle of moving his son's belongings out of the apartment that was home to the young family. "It's an empty feeling to know that not only your only son, but your best friend is not coming through that door any more."
He could go on and on about his son's traits: giving, caring, funny, loving.
But, the proud father doesn't feel he needs to.
"What he left behind speaks for itself," he said.
Tally, who began coaching the Atlantic City Dolphins in 2003, just after his son began Pee Wee football, passed on his love of working with youth.
When he gave some of his son's old sneakers to a neighborhood kid, all he could think of was how happy the young boy's smile would have made Cottman.
Tally grieves the smiles his son will miss. All of Ayyub's firsts: "His first words, his first step, first birthday, first day of school. First everything."
He knows he's not done grieving.
"I don't think it's really hit me the way it's going to hit me sooner or later," Tally said.
So he keeps busy to avoid the idle times. And he will continue the promise he and his son made.
In a Facebook post made Monday, Tally thanked those who had shown love and support for his family, then told of the dream they had shared.
"As we prepare to support Demond's vision of education and progression for himself and his young family, we have set up an educational fund to ensure Ayyub will be able to do just as his father dreamed for him to do in this world," he wrote.
"I'm going to make sure I put in every week as I promised my son that we would do," Tally said. "I will be able to do it, even if Ihave to do it myself."
Anyone who wants to help can go to any TD Bank and make a deposit into the Ayyub Cottman Educational Fund. Donations are also being accepted via PayPal.
Demond Cottman's killing remains unsolved. Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office Major Crimes Unit at 609-909-7666 or Hamilton Township police at 609-909-5045.
