T-Ronn Hicks will always stop short of saying he is the mastermind behind everything that has made his anti-bullying initiatives successful. Sure, it would be easy to assume he’s simply being modest. After all, his Simply Badd Ministry and outreach programs, including Stop Bullying Our Purpose, continue to change lives 16 years after they began.
Meanwhile, T-Ronn’s face and no-nonsense brand of preaching are front and center at school assemblies, parent-teacher conferences, community events, and more. He has earned countless accolades, including proclamations from county officials.
A former professional wrestler, he has even earned the nickname “The Champion Against Bullying.”
And yet, T-Ronn insists that some of his best ideas came from the mouths of the children he has promised to stand beside. In fact, the idea that launched everything came from his own daughter.
“My daughter, Lexi, came up to me one day in 2011 and said, ‘Dad, I need you to come to [Degan Elementary] and speak to us on bullying.’ As a parent, my first question was, ‘Are you being bullied, baby?’ She said, ‘No, Dad. I just think we need to be proactive instead of reactive,’” T-Ronn said. “Mind you, this is coming from a second-grader. I reached out to her teacher and then got connected to the school counselor. I remember taking off on a Thursday and just sharing with the kids the importance of not being a bully.”
What happened next is a now global mission that has allowed T-Ronn to develop and integrate even more programs. That includes Emma’s Circle, an idea inspired by an eighth grader at his son’s school in 2017 that brings together the student accused of bullying and the student who was bullied, along with a mediator, to iron out their differences.
Not only does that program still have a 100% success rate, but it is highly sought-after locally and nationwide.
To date, T-Ronn has spoken to more than 3.2 million people. Yes, that includes kids and adults right here in Denton County, but it also means having conversations with officials in Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
“We’re still going, and we’re pretty busy,” T-Ronn said with a laugh. In his spare time, he is the hospitality manager for Chick-Fil-A in Argyle and also does hospitality consulting on the side. “It’s exciting … but it’s also very humbling.”
It has been T-Ronn’s mission to stamp out bullying one community at a time for as long as he can remember—and for good reason. Bullying remains very common, with roughly one in five students aged 12 to 18 reporting being bullied at school. Those statistics are even more rampant at younger ages and are showing few signs of slowing down without the right intervention. Bullying has many forms, from physical intimidation and verbal harassment to rumors, social exclusion, and cyberbullying through social media, text messages and other digital platforms. Online harassment alone is a serious concern in today’s digital world.
T-Ronn said much of this is because too many people are living selfish, angry and jealous lives—and what’s worse, they are not happy inside. Naturally, if you’re not happy within, it’s nearly impossible to love and give happiness to others.
He said he was bullied as a kid, too. He stopped that vicious cycle on his own, but far too many kids today struggle to do the same.
“It’s not only about our kids’ futures—it’s about improving their lives right now,” he said. “They need an outside positive source who is willing to come in, talk to them, offer solutions, and give them a chance to ask questions. I started with one school, and then another school heard about it and wanted me to talk to their students. It just took off from there. Bullying is not something to turn a blind eye to.”
Even though he refuses to take all the credit, T-Ronn proved that he was the perfect ambassador for bringing these initiatives to life.
That go-getter attitude was developed from a very early age, when he boiled everything down to three goals: The first was to stop allowing himself to be bullied by the time he was 13. He accomplished that at 12 years old. The second goal was to be a pro wrestler. He did that, too, wrestling under the ring name of Simply Badd for 18 years, winning 19 world titles on the independent circuit and becoming a five-time Hall of Famer. The third goal was to stop bullying.
That’s the goal he hopes to achieve in his lifetime.
Hicks is affiliated with the WWE’s Be a Star anti-bullying program and Champions Against Bullying. He’s received several Humanitarian awards for his work and official proclamations from Denton County, the cities of Lewisville and Highland Village, and the state of Texas.
He genuinely believes bullying can be stopped, but everyone has to play their role.
“What I’m noticing is that these kids don’t have mentors, and they aren’t loving themselves. I came from a single-parent home, but from then to now is a totally different age,” he said. “My mom raised five kids and worked three jobs, but she also taught us that to love someone else, we have to love ourselves first. That’s not what I’m seeing right now. Today, it’s a me-me-me attitude, and that’s what builds up the frustration, anger, and jealousy. And that leads to bullying. These kids need positive role models.
“When we start loving these kids, that’s when life gets better. They have to know they are loved. If they don’t feel the love, that’s when we have children acting the way they do.”
T-Ronn’s mission continues to grow and has a following beyond his wildest dreams. He’s developed personal relationships with governors, county commissioners, chiefs of police, local principals, school counselors, parents, families, churches, juvenile facilities, PTAs, professional athletes, current and former wrestlers, and more.
All of them can’t wait for the day when there’s no more bullying.
“For me, you have to be the change you want to see when you look in the mirror,” he said.
Hicks still lives in Lewisville with his wife of more than 30 years, Marian, and children, Lexi and Zayy. For more information on how you can promote a bullying-free world, visit simplybadd.com.
