CLEVELAND -- With a deep, refined voice, one that had been sadly misplaced, Ted Williams simply asked for help to get him off the streets.

He's been heard.

Left homeless after his life and career were ruined by drugs and alcohol, Williams has been offered a job by the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers and is being pursued by NFL Films for possible work after he and his tale became an online curiosity.

"This has been totally, totally amazing," Williams said in a phone interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, his voice choking with emotion. "I'm just so thankful. God has blessed me so deeply. I'm getting a second chance. Amazing."

Ted Williams, a homeless ex-radio announcer, has been offered a job by the Cavaliers after becoming an Internet sensation. AP Photo/Columbus Dispatch/Doral Chenoweth III

Williams was contacted Wednesday by the Cavaliers, who have offered him a position that could include announcing work at Quicken Loans Arena, the team's downtown arena. Williams said the team has offered him a two-year contract and said it would pay his living expenses.

"I can't believe what's going on," said Williams, a father of nine, adding he feels like Susan Boyle, the Scottish singing sensation who became an overnight star. "God gave me a million-dollar voice, and I just hope I can do right by him."

Cavaliers spokesman Tad Carper said exact details of the team's offer and its plans to help Williams with housing were still being worked out.

The Cavaliers did not know much about him, but were touched by Williams' ordeal.

"When you know something's right, you just have to launch," said Tracy Marek, the team's senior vice president of marketing. "One of the big things that we talk about here, with our organization, is how important urgency is -- when you see something that feels good and seems right. The important thing that we wanted to do is to let Ted know that we have something here for him."

During a timeout in the first quarter of Wednesday night's game against Toronto, the Cavaliers put a picture of Williams on their giant scoreboard and urged fans to send him messages at www.wewanttedwilliams.com.

"We hope Ted accepts our offer," said Cavaliers announcer Olivia Sedra.

NFL Films, which has chronicled pro football for nearly 50 years, also wants to contact Williams.

"It's that voice," Kevin McLoughlin, director of post-production films for the NFL, told The Associated Press. "When I heard him tell his story, I said, 'That's what we do. This guy can tell a story.' Somehow, someway, I need to get a demo with him."

"The man deserves a second chance," said McLoughlin, who has not yet been able to contact Williams.

Williams appeared on NBC's "Today" show Thursday morning and has been offered jobs by the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers and others. He was reunited in a New York hotel room Thursday with his mother, who saw him for the first time in about 20 years and said "my prodigal son has finally come home."

"She has always been my best friend," he said, crying. "When I was a kid, she would take me down to Radio City Music Hall and on the subway. I'm just glad that she is still around. I prayed that she would live long enough that I could make her proud and see could her son do something other than stand along the side of the road with a sign asking for money."

At the reunion, he wore a camouflage jacket over clothes that he told his mother are all that he owns and said he just finished doing a commercial for Kraft Macaroni & Cheese that is to air Sunday during the Fight Hunger Bowl on ESPN.