Waiian Craig heard the fire call on his home’s emergency scanner about 11:56 p.m. Friday.

He looked out and saw the house across the street engulfed in flames.

Although he didn’t know it at the time, inside lay Ervin Cosby, 66, of 1005 Roberts St., who was like a second father to him and other kids growing up in the neighborhood.

No one knows if Cosby tried to make it, but was overcome by smoke. Firefighters found his body on the floor by his bed, eyes tightly shut, said his son, Khon Cosby of Huntsville

An autopsy will be performed Monday to determine cause of death, said Limestone County Coroner Mike West.

“He was a man full of love,” said Cosby, a former Athens High and collegiate football player who now works for the Madison County Jail.

“He was a father to the neighborhood,” said Sheila Tibbs, who stopped her car in front of the charred, one-story home to giver her condolences to the Cosby. .

“He raised the neighborhood, ” Craig said. “It’s a huge loss to the community.”

The cause of the fire, which started just before midnight, is still under investigation by Athens Fire Department and the state fire marshal.

“They think it was electrical, but they are still looking into it,” Cosby said.

As the younger Cosby stared at the burned wreckage of his childhood home from the street, carload after carload of friends stopped, got out, gave him a hug and shared their sorrow.

The elder Cosby was a man full of heart and hard work.

As a janitor for the now-defunct Lord’s Dental Labs in Athens, he decided to secretly make a pair of dentures for his mother, whose teeth were lost to cancer of the gums.

“He was working on them when the owner came in and saw him,” recalled the younger Cosby. “He figured he was fired.”

But the owner figured if Cosby could make one pair of dentures, he could make another. Eventually, Cosby could crank out dentures in the morning and go to work cooking in the afternoon. He went on to become a dental technician, which he did for 33 years. Later in life, he worked construction, including concrete finishing,

As he aged, Cosby suffered from gout, a painful inflammation of the joints, especially the feet and hands. He wondered if it prevented his father from escaping the smoke from the fire.