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Mays 'had the biggest heart in the world'

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By WALT BELCHER wbelcher

@tampatrib.com

Published: June 30, 2009

Billy Mays could have sold sand in the desert, ice at the North Pole and saltwater on the ocean floor. He was that good.

"My voice is my talent - that and my belief in every product I sell put me were I am today," he told me during a March interview for his "Pitchmen" TV series.

The series, which debuted in April, concludes its first season at 10 p.m. Wednesday. It follows Mays and fellow Tampa-based pitchman Anthony "Sully" Sullivan as they hunt for new products and tape infomercials.

Mays said he learned early that the loudest and most enthusiastic pitch got the most reaction.

"I started on the boardwalk at Atlantic City selling the Wash-Matik, a car washing system," he said. "There were other guys out there selling all sorts of stuff, and I realized that if I was going to get people to stop, I had to be the loudest."

That voice and his distinctive rugged looks took him from Atlantic City to traveling trade shows, on to the Home Shopping Network and ultimately to stardom in dozens of infomercials hawking household cleaning products.

Love 'em or hate 'em, his infomercials were memorable. His "Hi, Billy Mays here" greeting became his trademark.

Mays was so vibrant on TV and in person that death seemed unlikely. His passing Sunday from heart disease was a shocker.

It came after a week of celebrity deaths: superstar Michael Jackson, actress Farrah Fawcett, TV personality Ed McMahon, 1950s singer-actress Gale Storm and impressionist Fred Travalena.

Mays wasn't an entertainer, but he was entertaining. Thanks to the explosion of cable television networks since the 1980s where infomercials play all night, Mays logged more airtime than most actors.

He was a legend in the world of direct marketing, and he was about to take his fame to the next level. He had been profiled by Forbes Magazine this year, was a guest on NBC's "The Tonight Show" and made fun himself in a series of promos for ESPN.

He told WFLZ radio personality Todd Schnitt (aka MJ Kelli) of 93.3 FM that he had signed a deal with Taco Bell for a series of national commercials that would parody his infomercial style. The "Pitchmen" series had been renewed for a second season.

"I had been trying to get him on my show for years, and it finally happened about three months ago when his TV series was starting," Schnitt said. "We became friends, and we were planning on working on some projects together."

Schnitt, who made a personal call to the icon pitchman about 10 p.m. Saturday, postponed a vacation to do a tribute to Mays on his Monday radio show.

Schnitt said he called Mays on Saturday night to kid him about being on the US Airways flight that had a rough landing at Tampa International Airport.

"Now I'm having trouble reconciling that I may have been one of the last people to talk to him," Schnitt said.

By all accounts, from friends, relatives and business associates, Mays was a nice, unpretentious guy who remained approachable. In my interview, he joked that when he was recognized in public, people wanted to hear him say "Hi, I'm Billy Mays"or would say it to him.

His first wife, Dolores "Dee Dee" Mays, told The Associated Press that Mays "will live on forever because he always had the biggest heart in the world. He loved his friends and family and would do anything for them."

In honor of Mays, Discovery is running a marathon on "Pitchmen" episodes beginning at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

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