Goodbye to a Great American Pitchman: Billy Mays
If there was a hall of fame for pitchmen, Billy Mays would be its founder. Billy Mays possessed the rare ability to endear himself to you and sell you almost any product within two minutes. His pitches sold millions of units of such items as Orange Glo, Jupiter Jack, and Oxi Clean. Billy Mays’s beard and blue shirt became a symbol to every working man that success was not out of reach.
On July 20, 1958, Billy Mays Jr. was born in McKees Rocks Pennsylvania. He graduated from Sto-Rox High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Billy Mays joined the movement to become a college graduate; however, he soon dropped out of West Virginia University. After college, he found employment with his dad’s hazardous waste company. Billy Mays would leave hazardous waste and move to Atlantic City in 1983.
Atlantic City began Billy Mays down the career that would make him famous…pitchman. He started pitching products to anyone that passed by. Early on, Billy Mays pitched a variety of cleaning products including Washamatik a portable cleaning device. He would move on to pitch “As Seen On TV” products.
Atlantic City’s pitchmen built the Billy Mays we know and love. These pitchmen taught Billy how to draw in a crowd and develop a pitch that would “seal the deal”. Billy Mays soaked up their suggestions like a sponge. When he was ready, he took his show on the road. Criss-crossing America selling various products at auto shows, home expos, and fairs.
Billy Mays met Max Appel in 1993. Max Appel had founded Orange Glo International. Appel and Billy were rival pitchmen. Even though he was a pitchman, Appel realized that Billy Mays could make him money. He hired Billy to promote his company’s cleaning products. Through the Home Shopping Network, Billy would turn such products as Kaboom, Orange Glo, and OxiClean into household names.
Mays Promotions, Inc. introduced Billy Mays to the world of entrepeneurship. He founded Mays Promotions, Inc. out of his Odessa, Florida home. Billy Mays served as the company’s CEO. He achieved success by becoming known as the world’s greatest pitchman. Companies would pay top dollar to have him pitch their products. Inventors would pitch their inventions to him, hoping that Billy Mays would turn them into millionaires.
In 2009, Billy Mays became a TV superstar. Discovery Channel began airing “Pitchmen”. Pitchmen took viewers behind the scenes of TV infomercials. Viewers were able to watch inventors pitch their products to Billy Mays and his partner Anthony Sullivan. See which products they picked up and see how an infomercial is produced.
No one gets out of life alive. Billy Mays expiration came on June 28, 2009. His wife found him unresponsive in bed. Early reports seemed to indicate a head injury from a very turbulent flight. Overhead bins had opened and released various items onto Billy Mays’s head. Autopsy would not find any head trauma. It would indicate Mays had died of a massive heart attack.
Rumors were put to rest by Dr. Vernard Adams. Dr. Adams performed Billy Mays’s autopsy. His findings indicated Mays was killed by hypertensive heart disease. The world’s greatest pitchman had been beaten by a heart attack.
Billy Mays was memorialized and buried in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania on July 3, 2009. Each pallbearer wore Billy’s trademark blue shirts and khaki pants. KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh reported that Billy Mays was buried in an OxiClean shirt.
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