Ted Williams, homeless man with radio announcer voice, blocked from boarding plane to New York

BY James Fanelli
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Wednesday, January 5th 2011, 6:19 PM

The Columbus-Dispatch

Overnight YouTube sensation Ted Williams is trying to return to his Brooklyn roots.

A Brooklyn panhandler whose "golden radio voice" made him an overnight web sensation was stuck in Ohio Wednesday afternoon - delaying his long-awaited reunion with his mother in New York.
Ted Williams, 53, had expected to fly to New York to do a live interview on the "Today Show" tomorrow morning and see his 92-year-old mom after years apart.
But TMZ reported that airport officials will not let him board a plane because he doesn't have proper identification to make the trip. Instead, he spent the afternoon at a Columbus, Ohio, courthouse trying to obtain a copy of his birth certificate, the site said.
A convicted felon and recovering addict, Williams was living in a homeless encampment in Columbus until two days ago, when a video showcasing his startling talent went viral on the Internet.
The video, produced by the Columbus Dispatch, shows him begging for change on a street in exchange for a soundbyte of his buttery, baritone voice.
The interview has led to a whirlwind of media attention and job offers, including one to do voice-over work for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
But perhaps the greatest opportunity to come from his newfound fame was a reunion with his mom, who lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant in the home he was raised in.
During the an interview on "The Early Show," Williams broke down in tears when he spoke about his mother.
"I apologize. I'm getting a little emotional. I haven't seen my mom in a great deal of time," he said on the program.
"One of my biggest prayers that I sent out was that she would live long enough for me to see me rebound or whatever, and I guess God kept her around and kept my pipes around to maybe just have one more shot that I would be able to say, 'Mom, I did do it before,'" he said. "I might pass away before her or whatever, but my dad didn't get a chance to see this. But God is good."


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