'Let's go, Curtis!': Get to know Belle Glade's 10-year-old baseball star taking TikTok by storm

BELLE GLADE — From NFL Hall of Famers like Rickey Jackson to nominees like Anquan Boldin, there's no shortage of football stars born out of the Muck. Now, the small-town football factory can add a celebrity on the diamond to its resume.

The country has fallen in love with Curtis Edwards III, a Belle Glade 10-year-old taking TikTok by storm with his baseball field antics and chubby-cheeked grin.

Curtis first went viral on March 29, when Atorian Burke — better known as "DuggiesDad" on social media — posted a TikTok video of the 5-foot, 200-pound youngster's at-bat. Cheered on by shouts of "Let's go, Curtis," all it took was a slip-and-slide into home plate to get the run for his team and capture the hearts of social media.

"Before the game, he was just acting funny and I told him, 'If you get up, I'm recording' and he was like, 'OK, go ahead.' When he got up, he actually stole second base and third base, so when he got to home, I was like, 'I think he can do something crazy.' I just pulled the phone out," Burke said.

Since the first post, which now has 2.8 million views — and that's not counting those from reposts by ESPN, House of Highlights, MaxPreps and Barstool Sports — Curtis has a combined following of nearly 150,000 and counting as his growing fan base demands more content of "Big Curtis" or "The People's Cool Boy."

"The next game after he went viral, he goes, 'Oh, I'm famous.' He even snuck his phone out of the truck and into the dugout because he was like, 'I want to get on TikTok,' " Burke said, now a ”talent manager” of sorts for the Pioneer Park Elementary fifth-grader.

Curtis is already making guest appearances and shuffling bills to his bank account from his fame, too. He recently cashed out $100 with a review for a candy company and has been selected to throw out the ceremonial first pitch for the Palm Beach Cardinals’ 4 p.m. game against the Tampa Tarpons at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium on Saturday, May 27.

Of his newfound notoriety, he told it like it was: "You get a lot of attention. People say, 'Wow, Curtis! You're famous!' It's sometimes a little bit annoying."

"I have a bunch of girls on my TikTok page and they keep dinging, dinging, and dinging me until I get tired of it," said Curtis, ever the ladies' man. Qualified contenders for his first girlfriends are "normal, average girls" — preferably with a singing voice as good as his own.

According to a TikTok video from April 8, the "ladies are going to wait" until he's 13.

His advice for those seeking to become a social media star? "All I have to say is, be careful. Look at your surroundings and see if you're in a bad area because you would not like to be stalked or you would not like to end up in the coffin," Curtis said.

And there are hopeful bachelorettes and fans who come from near and far to Belle Glade's Airport Park for his weekly games with the U.S. Sugar Corp. Cardinals, members of the Youth Sports of the Glades baseball league. They can even hoist up custom-made "Go Curtis" signs from a follower in California, which he brought to the field and handed out before a meeting with the Braves on Tuesday.

"When he was Curtis' age, he was a big guy and he wanted to make some signs for Curtis because that inspired him and he liked looking at the videos and having a laugh," Burke said of the sign sender.

In a TikTok post on April 5, Edwards gave the camera a big smile and chuckle, saying: "My stomach is my shield. My stomach is my protector."

Burke thinks Curtis' courage is the reason "a lot of people" like the kid. After all, not many baseball players call their own timeout midgame for a bathroom break. Or score a run and proceed to walk off the field for a Powerade from the cooler in the trunk of his mom's car.

Dashelle Edwards has always known her son was going to be a "character" because he's a "replica" of his dad, Curtis Edwards Jr.

"We were married 17 years before this boy came along. Technically, I'm the mother of 12 children. I lost all my babies except for him," she said. "He's the only one to survive, and look at the personality the Lord gave him."

Born prematurely, Curtis himself nearly didn't survive.

"Some things wasn't quite developed and when he came out, he wasn't breathing," his mother said. "That was seven days in the hospital right away. Then once they did hook him up, he was allergic to everything. The first month of his life was spent in the neonatal intensive care unit.

"My baby was just skin and bones at one point. Then he couldn't talk."

Curtis was nonverbal until the age of 3 when he uttered his first word: "Daddy."

The next year, in December 2016, Curtis Jr. was killed in a tragic accident. Days after the unexpected death of his own father, he was crushed beneath a truck when the jacks failed.

"He was supposed to be home getting ready to do the viewing with the family at 2 o'clock. Instead, at 11:15, he's under somebody's car," Dashelle Edwards said.

With Christmas around the corner, Curtis Jr. was working a side job to make some extra money for a special holiday.

Dashelle Edwards said she doesn't know "what the struggle is all about," but she's certain of one thing.

"All I know is God is getting me through it because he gave me joy when he gave me him," she said of Curtis.

Her husband lives on through Curtis' plays and stories, jokes and pranks, and the infectious, hard-bellied giggle that people around the country can't get enough of.

The men around Muck City are stepping up to help Curtis grow from the fun-loving boy into the 6-foot-5 man he's projected to be. If it's up to those in the land where football reigns supreme, he'll be a starting left tackle for the 2030 recruiting class, too.

Although Curtis "knows nothing" about football right now, Raider and Blue Devil players past and present have agreed to put their rivalry to the side for the summer and teach the little one the way of the Muck.

"Curtis told me, 'But momma, I'm afraid I'll crush them,'” Dashelle said.

“I said: 'That's the objective, baby. You're supposed to.’ "

Emilee Smarr is the high school sports reporter for the Palm Beach Post. She can be reached via email at esmarr@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: 'Let's Go Curtis' making TikTok sensation of Belle Glade youth baseball player