WWE Superstar Titus O’Neil is known for being the leader of Titus Worldwide in the ring, but also for the amazing charity work he does outside of the ring.
At the 2018 Freedom Fund Dinner in Tampa, Florida, O’Neil received the Reverend Hosea Williams Award from the Tampa Chapter of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
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O’Neil’s friend and former WWE Champion Dave Bautista was at the dinner and congratulated him on receiving the honor.
The award was named for Hosea Lorenzo Williams, who was an American civil rights leader, activist, ordained minister, businessman, philanthropist, scientist, and politician.
Williams was known for being a trusted member of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s inner circle. Under the banner of their flagship organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, King depended on Williams to organize and stir masses of people into nonviolent direct action in myriad protest campaigns they waged against racial, political, economic, and social injustice. King alternately referred to Williams, his chief field lieutenant, as his “bull in a china closet” and his “Castro.”
Inspired by personal experience with and his vow to continue King’s work for the poor, Williams may be equally well known as the founding president of one of the largest social services organizations for the poor and hungry on holidays in North America, Hosea Feed the Hungry and Homeless.
According to the organization’s Facebook page, Since its founding in 1971, the Hosea Feed The Hungry and Homeless Food (HFTH), has distributed more than $3 billion in food, clothing, medical, educational, toiletries, furniture and cleaning supplies to 16 Georgia counties, three states and to the Philippines, the Ivory Coast and Uganda. The organization maintains an average administrative overhead of 14 percent — ensuring the poor receive 86 percent of all donations. The group’s website is down, but people can still visit the webpage to make a donation or volunteer.
The Hosea Williams Award is a big honor and O’Neil is a worthy candidate to receive it as he is involved with charity work with several nonprofit groups in the Tampa Bay area. His charitable feats include helping high school children – 245 – to get into college, leading corporate volunteers to read books to children and participating in United Way’s Walking School Bus program in at-risk neighborhoods by escorting children to school on foot. He has also visited children in hospitals.
The Tampa Bay Lightning honored him as the 32nd Lightning Community Hero of the 2016-17 season. He received a $50,000 donation from the Lightning Foundation and the Lightning Community Heroes program and will donate the money to the United Way Suncoast, Wheelchairs for Kids, Academy Prep and Unsigned Preps Inc.
Most recently, O’Neil joined the “Black Panther Challenge,” where he teamed up with Alicia McDowell to help black children, especially those from low income families, to see the film “Black Panther.”
#BlackPantherChallenge Update Our Total Has went up to over 2000kids with the addition of 750 @TampaJHS Dragons students set to watch #BlackPanther THANK YOU @HillsboroughSch @Jaboowins @henderg1 @Back_ToReality @VanAyresHCPS @MrQuinnJHS pic.twitter.com/9hgfCwRVHd
— Titus O'Neil (@TitusONeilWWE) February 8, 2018
Among other awards he received, O’Neil was named the Mega Dad’s Celebrity Dad of the Year 2015 and 2016.
This is a big honor for O’Neil, who continues to inspire people in and out of the ring with his story and his work both in and out of the ring.
