The Ted Williams Rags to Riches Story: What Should He Do with His New Found Fame?

Ted Williams is the epitome of a "rags to riches" story. He started out on the radio, but later he turned to drugs and alcohol, eventually leaving him homeless in Columbus, Ohio. He lived in a tent by the side of the road, using the usual "Will Work for Food" signs.

However, being homeless on the side of the road was apparently his savior. On Wednesday, Jan. 5 2011, the Cleveland Cavaliers offered Williams an "unspecified job" because of a video that The Columbus Dispatch aired. Williams was showing off his "Golden Voice" skills for money on "his side of the road." He instantly became an Internet sensation-and he didn't need "American Idol" to do it.

Another Famous "Rags to Riches" Story

Some of the best rags to riches stories are the ones where people have come up from nothing-such as the poor who have won a lottery. Statistically, more people in poverty play the lotto, hoping that they will one day win big and fix their financial situation.

This is exactly what happened to Evelyn Adams from New Jersey-twice. Adams won the NJ Lottery two times, defying the already impossible odds of winning even once; the odds of winning twice were estimated at the time at only one in 17 trillion.

The first time she won was in 1985, when she claimed $3.9 million. The second was in 1986 when she picked up another $1.4 million playing the Pick-6, this time with her fiancée. However, about a month before the second big win, Adams picked up another $500 playing an NJ instant lotto and while that amount is nothing like what she had already won, the odds of winning both were already impossible.

At the time, according to The New York Times archives, Adams was a 7-Eleven manager in Point Pleasant Beach. Adams went from "dirt poor" to filthy rich, winning a total of $5.4 million between the two lotteries.

Newfound Friends and Fun

As many people do when they come into a large sum of money they did not expect to receive, Adams apparently went a little crazy with it. In a statement, Adams said that, "I won the American dream but I lost it, too. It was a very hard fall. It's called rock bottom." She also said that she not only had a gambling problem, but she found it difficult to say "no" when new found "friends" asked for money after she won. Apparently she gambled away a good chunk of the money she won at Atlantic City, playing the slot machines and, by 2001, Adams had gambled and given away so much of the money that she was again dirt poor and living in a trailer.

The Moral of the Story

Simply because Mr. Williams has money to spend, it does not mean that he should. In his case, finding a place to live, food to eat and buying the necessities is expected, but he certainly should not go crazy, spending the money as quick as it comes in. Learning the word, "No" is another good lesson Williams should also quickly learn. The one thing people with a "rags to riches story" do not learn until it is too late is that the "friends" who appear when a person comes into money are certainly not friends, but leeches, plain and simple.

If Ted Williams suddenly finds himself with friends from nowhere, he should ask himself-and those "friends" -- where they were when Mr. Williams needed them the most. Where were they when he was desperate for a place to live?

What happens now is up to Williams, and if he is smart about things, he will learn the power of asking questions and saying no. Only then can he expect to lead a good life with his newfound fame.