Dancing dad No. 1 in people's hearts

Friends, family join the 54, 000 who voted for the Tampa man.

By AMBER MOBLEY
Published June 16, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Chris Zuppa] Craig Bythewood, 40, shows off his dance moves during Hallmark's Daddy of All DanceOffs contest at Westfield Citrus Park on June 9. The event also took place in cities such as Phoenix, Houston and St. Louis. Bythewood won the contest, taking home $5,000. Tampabay.com video Watch his moves

TAMPA - Winning the $5, 000 grand prize in Hallmark's Daddy of All Dance-Offs contest was like winning the lottery in reverse for Craig Bythewood.

Instead of people from umpteen years ago coming out of the woodwork after he collected his winnings, they contacted him with love and support before he received one red cent.

They helped him win.

Over the course of four days, more than 54, 000 online voters chose Bythewood as the No. 1 dancing daddy out of eight contestants. Unlike American Idol, the Hallmark competition limited each household to one vote.

Those votes came from people who know him as a fraternity brother, alumnus, church member, friend, professor, teammate and, of course, as a daddy.

"I never realized how many roles I've played and how many peoples' lives I've touched, " said Bythewood, 40. Emotionally, the support was "overwhelming, " he said.

Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity brothers that he pledged with 20 years ago at Howard University in Washington, D.C., voted and sent out e-mails of support, as did frat brothers from the University of Florida where he attended and got his Ph.D. at age 26.

Other Howard alumni and students he taught at Florida A&M kept MySpace abuzz with bulletins about his wild performance.

His current students at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, where he is a professor of business and economics, voted.

Bythewood rallied his Bible-Based Fellowship Church family during Sunday announcements, and some of them sent e-mails to co-workers, friends and family.

Guys he plays flag football and basketball with voted and told their friends who told their friends to do the same.

Even his soon-to-be ex-wife sent out an e-mail of support telling friends to "vote for my babies' daddy" because "we've got children to feed."

His divorce will be final on Thursday, and the win has become a little ray of sunshine during a dark time in his life, as well as a way to pay bills.

"Who would think that a dance competition would get people to show this kind of love, " he said.

While the votes helped him win, Bythewood's dancing skills weren't too shabby either.

The father of three kicked it old school, doing the Running Man, then the Rerun. He went from the Worm into the splits and added a break-dancing spin to MC Hammer's U Can't Touch This.

The whole bit was impromptu. But the way everything came about, said Bythewood, "It's obvious to me that God crafted all this."

Amber Mobley can be reached at amobley@sptimes.com or 813 269-5311.

[Last modified June 16, 2007, 00:23:03]