newjerseynewsroom.com

Ted Williams goes from homeless to being flooded with job offers

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

It looks like NFL Films of Mount Laurel will have to get in line for the services of homeless and golden voiced Ted Williams.

The Columbus, Ohio, panhandler who has become an overnight sensation ever since a local newspaper posted video of him showing off his golden voice Monday, will lend his voice to a new ad for the brand that will debut Sunday.

"Like many others, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese and our ad agency was moved by Ted Williams' story," Kraft spokeswoman Lynne Galia said in an email. "His amazing voice is perfectly suited to our campaign. We were in the middle of making our TV spots and in a unique position to help Ted use his great voice to gain employment," she said, according to Ad Age.

AOLNews.com reported that the job offers have been flying in for Williams. A representative of the Cavs called into "The Morning Zoo" on WNCI, a local Ohio station, to offer Williams a full-time voice-over job and a house.

The New Jersey Nets may even have something in mind. CBS News reported they called "The Early Show" Wednesday seeking to get in touch with Williams

Also on WNCI this morning, Williams was offered a $10,000 opportunity to do voice-over work for the Ohio Credit Union League, pending a background check. Someone claiming to be from MTV called into "The Morning Zoo" to say that they'd love to work with Williams.

ESPN has expressed interest in Williams, along with a Pennsylvania radio station is apparently interested in Williams.

And television station WBNS-TV wants to use Williams as a narrator for One Day To End Homelessness, a telethon planned for Jan. 31.

The New York Daily News reports Williams even did the opening for the Today show when he appeared there on Thursday. "From NBC News, this is 'Today' with Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera, live from Studio 1A in Rockefeller Plaza," he said.

Al Roker read Williams a statement from his mother, whom he hadn't seen in 20 years: "This will be my day to see my son get up and help himself ... he came from a nice family and then he went poor-poor. Let him see that there's more to life than hanging around with the wrong crowd and taking drugs."

But Williams nearly didn't make that Today show appearance. The New York Daily News reported that airport officials would not let him board a plane to New York until he obtained proper identification to make the trip. He spent the afternoon at a Columbus, Ohio, courthouse trying to obtain a copy of his birth certificate.

But Williams has been used to bumps in the road on his way back. According to dispatch.com, state records show that Williams served three months in prison in 1990 for theft, and nearly two months in 2004 for theft, forgery and obstructing official business.

He was also cited for a dozen misdemeanors, including drug abuse and criminal trespassing. In the past six months, he was cited four times for pedestrian solicitation near I-71 and Hudson Street, the same intersection seen in the video.

Williams and his wife divorced in 1998 because of his addiction to crack cocaine and the fact that he fathered two children with another woman, said one of his stepdaughters, Tangela Pullien.

Married for nearly 17 years, he and Patricia Pullien Kirtley had two daughters together, in addition to his two sons and her two daughters.

Since the divorce, Williams lived off and on with the six children, 16 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Williams said he has been sober for 21/2 years and, despite the ongoing attention, doesn't intend to stray.