Update: The Latest With Ted 'Golden Voice' Williams

Ted Williams

In January 2011, with few possessions other than a handwritten sign he clutched as cars whizzed by, Ted Williams stood in the cold at a busy intersection in Columbus, Ohio, hoping for a miracle.

"Broke, homeless, standing on a corner, addiction kicking my butt. My family had all given up on me," Williams told NBC News in an interview this week.

Williams' dream of getting off the streets and back in front of a microphone unexpectedly came true when a Columbus Dispatch reporter noticed his sign, which pleaded for help and boasted about Williams' "God given gift of voice."

The Dispatch posted a video of Williams' attention-grabbing baritone voice — and overnight, Williams went viral. He got a haircut, a shave and offers for big-time work, including voicing commercials for Kraft Macaroni & Cheese.

Now, nearly five years later, "the man with the golden voice" has another dream: to give back to the homeless community in which he once languished.

But the 58-year-old has even bigger aspirations. "I want to open up a homeless laundromat," he said. "A lot of times, homeless people discard clothes, or they walk down the street with millions of clothes, and they're never in the most presentable shape."


He envisions a laundromat where volunteer attendants wash and dry homeless people's clothes so they have a shot at getting back to work, like he did.

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