Hickmon family.Photo: Kenyetta Hickmon
Mike Hickmon was the epitome of a family man.
He lived and breathed fatherhood — and sports.
Hickmon’s cousin, Toronda Alford tells PEOPLE his wife Kenyetta Hickmon and their 9-year-old son Mike Jr. witnessed the deadly shooting from the sidelines, and it has left them broken.
“She’s just numb,” Alford says. “She could have never imagined that this would’ve happened. That’s their typical Saturday — to get up and go to a little league game — whether he was coaching, whether it was his best friend’s game, whether it was a family member’s. That was their thing to do, and it’s tragic.”
Hickmon family.Kenyetta Hickmon
Hickmon was “a devoted father” who wanted to “watch his children grow up and live out their dreams,” Alford says.
But now, Ashley, 25; Emerie, 14; and Mike Jr., 9; will have to figure out how to navigate life without their dad to guide them.
“Their dad was at every game,” she says of the sports-centric family. “Their dad was dropping them off at practice, picking them up at practice. Him and Mike Jr. — they flew somewhere for a game. So, I don’t even know how they are going to go on without him. He was their biggest cheerleader.”
Although much of his time and love was devoted to his own family, Hickmon still had room in his heart to mentor other kids. His family says he spent the last five years coaching the D.E.A. Dragons.
“Mike loved children … this was a good person,” Alford says. “This was a loving father and husband, and everything he did, he did from the heart. He was one of those, ‘What do you need me to do, how can I help?’ type of people.”
“He was one in a million,” Alford says. “I just hope that as a family, we can make him as proud as he made us.”
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While funeral arrangements are in the works, a balloon release is scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday at DeSoto Stadium in DeSoto, Texas.
In the meantime, aGoFundMehas been organized to help defray burial costs and support the Hickmon family.
Hickmon was killed on Saturday after 39-year-old Yaqub Talib — a coach on the opposing team and brother to ex-NFL player Aqib Talib — allegedly shot him.
Talib turned himself into authorities on Monday and has been charged with first-degree murder, but has not entered a plea as of Thursday, his attorney Clark Birdsallconfirmed to PEOPLE.
source: people.com
