PRINCETON, Ind. — America’s Got Talent winner Richard Goodall vowed to give back to those who helped him achieve his dream as the winner of the national talent television competition last week.
The 2024 season sensation, a Terre Haute, Indiana, school janitor, was back at work Friday, and rocked the rafters Friday evening at the Gibson County Fairgrounds Toyota Events Center during a fundraiser for the Cops Connecting with Kids program which sends local students to Disney World.
Opening acts for Goodall were area musician Rodney Watts and daughters Trinity and Mackenzie, and local comedian Andy Imlay. Event organizer Jeremy Bigham worked to get as many people as possible to see Goodall.
Fresh back from California, Goodall was awakened by his alarm at 4 a.m. Friday for his first day at work at West Vigo Middle School in Terre Haute, after winning AGT’s 19th season. He knew it would be a full day because of that night’s fundraiser in Princeton, but his main focus was seeing the children again.
“The things that Angie (his wife) and I are passionate about are children — especially those who have been mistreated,” he said.
Having worked as a janitor for 23 years, he has seen many children — and opened Friday’s show with a song dedicated to them: “Let Them Be Little.”
Once a year, Goodall is usually asked to sing with, or to the children at school. He said he normally sang “God Bless the USA” but in 2022, teachers said he could choose whatever song he wanted. He chose to sing rock band Journey’s anthem, “Don’t Stop Believing.”
