Remembering Billy Mays 'the OxiClean guy"

The first time I ever saw Billy Mays in person nobody could actually remember the poor guy's name.

I was sitting at the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando, Fla., in December, and out of nowhere my cousin turns to me and says, "Hey, isn't that the infomercial guy?"

The man he was pointing at was standing on the field wearing a blue polo shirt and carrying a camera. After a couple of more minutes went by, a few other people in our section noticed the same guy. "It had to be him," everyone agreed. So to get his attention my cousin started chanting the one thing he knew he remembered about the man in the blue shirt: OxiClean. He knew that the man sold a product called OxiClean during one of his infomercials, so chants of "OxiClean, OxiClean" started to fill the air in Section 131 at the Florida Citrus Bowl that night. Within a matter of moments, the bearded man turned around and had a huge smile on his face.

I'm still not exactly sure how we did it, but we convinced our new pal to come into our seats and take some pictures. He literally had to climb over the little railing in our section, but he did this without any problem. The fans were going crazy. As he made his way to us, I finally remembered that the man's name was Billy Mays. When he got to our seats the chants had switched from "OxiClean, OxiClean!" to "Billy Mays, Billy Mays!" Mays' smile got even bigger as he came over and shook everyone's hand and posed for pictures.

My brother, who had gone up to the concession stand to grab some more beers for our group, came back and couldn't believe his eyes. "The guy from the commercials," he said in amazement. He tried to give Mays one of his precious beers, but the pitchman graciously declined, he was on assignment for ESPN, after all.

What struck me more than anything was that when he spoke, he wasn't screaming the way he did in all those commercials. He was just an average guy (with a regular voice) who enjoyed hanging with his fans. He stood near our section for another 10 minutes or so posing and talking to more people. He seemed like a genuine guy who was just happy to be recognized. His appearance was the highlight of an otherwise boring game between FSU and Wisconsin.

When I heard the news of his passing on Sunday morning, that story is the first thing that crossed my mind. In fact, a few hours later, I got a text message from one of my friends who had been with us that night: "Did you know that the OxiClean guy died today??? Ahhhh Champs Bowl." I'm sure Mays' presence made a lot of people smile over the years, and my story is no different. The only reason I'll ever remember that football game is because the "OxiClean guy" appeared and brightened everybody's day. source>>>

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