The humble singing janitor with a golden voice won a million dollars and the hearts of a worldwide audience Tuesday night.
“I was standing there just waiting and they flipped it open and said my name. Wow! Confetti comes down. Magic,” Richard Goodall said as he held the card that AGT host Terry Cruz used to announce the winner.
Hearing his name has been a long time coming. Goodall started the audition process in the spring. It all came about after a Tik Tok video was posted of him singing to students at West Vigo. AGT judge Howie Mandell was among those who saw it.
“When I saw him, when he stepped on our stage, you felt the love that not only I had for him, but the hope he would win,” Howie Mandell said from AGT’s red carpet. “You just knew people at home would have the same magnetic need to vote.”