June 8th, 2010
Tampa’s Billy Mays
Tampa is a wonderful city for travelers and tourists, with a ready and easy access to great theme parks and plenty of natural wonders. It’s also got a very lively local population, with a great social scene, making for some splendid evenings out on the town. The cultural mix here is very strong, so that there are plenty of world rhythms to move one about on the dance floors, and great venues for live music. When it comes to what in town is the very best, Tampa spa resorts offer some splendid relaxation. It’s a very popular way to travel these days, where health and rejuvenation are the centers of attention.
It’s also a town that has a fine share of local celebrities, with loads of sports greats, wrestler and showman Hulk Hogan, bestselling author Dennis Lehane, and rap star Bubba Sparxxx. But one celebrity who had the public eye for many years was in the news for unfortunate reasons last year. Billy Mays , the fast-talking pitchman for a wild number of products, passed away at only 50 years old. The causes of death were the subjects of a lot of rumors, but the family likes it to rest at hypertension and heart trouble, which were the main factors.
He was born in Pennsylvania, and started his salesman education on the boardwalk of Atlantic City. This is the perfect place for someone who could talk and think fast, and sell with an enormous enthusiasm. For Mays, this kind of old-fashioned selling was the exact formula for a life of financial success. He got a very big break when he became the spokesman for OxiClean , and his initial excursions into the public realm on television were very well-received. His enthusiasm was contagious, and it was difficult not to get swept up in the pitch.
There was something enormously charming about him, and audiences liked watching him as if he were a stand-up comic, but found themselves getting convinced that these were fabulous products they had to have. It’s an approach to selling that people in the country hadn’t seen since PT Barnum, and it’s curious to wonder who might ever fill these shoes.
He’s missed here, and everywhere.

