(Bill Stamps, KUHF Public Radio)
Last year, homeless man Ted Williams became an overnight sensation after a YouTube video of him and his remarkable voice was viewed by millions of people. Ted Williams has written a book about his journey and was recently in Houston to tell his story. [His] life changed forever last year when a motorist videotaped him on the corner one day as he asked for money.
Williams once had a promising radio career but it all fell apart thanks to drugs. Speaking to a large crowd of women at Houston’s Intercontinental Hotel, Williams told them how he would steal anything he could resell, while his girlfriend engaged in prostitution.
“I knew I could go out there and steal a bluetooth or a laptop, or anything a lot faster than standing out there for an hour, hoping a charitable person would drive by and give me a twenty dollar bill. But God said stand there.”
And so he did — begging for money and saying God bless you to anyone who gave. And then the video hit the web.
“He shot the video and three weeks later, I’m getting a phone call on the highway. I’ve got my sign here and my phone rings and so I casually slip it out of my pocket — so none of the motorists see this phone — and I slip it up to the sign and I say, ‘yeah what’s going on? Hey Ted, there’s a radio station looking for a homeless guy with the voice.'”
Marcia Tapp is a director at the Women’s Home of Houston, a residential center for women trying to get their lives back in order. She wanted Williams to speak at her groups’ fundraiser.
“We wanted an opportunity for the home to sort of illustrate that there is an opportunity for redemption, for anyone who wanted to make some changes. More importantly, Ted’s story was about people who didn’t give up on him.”
(Hear the full story at KUHF Public Radio)
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