"Life's a pitch, and then you buy..."
Pittsburgh:That’s what 50-year-old infomercial sales guru Billy Mays claims. It might surprise you to know that this pitch man is a native of McKees Rocks. In fact, if it hadn’t been for an opportunity at the Pittsburgh Home and Garden Show in the early 1990s, Mays probably wouldn’t be very well known.
When Mays graduated from Sto-Rox High School, he headed off to Atlantic City and started selling items along the boardwalk. He learned his tricks from the more-experienced salesmen who gladly took him under their wing. “I was there as an apprentice,” Mays told the Tribune-Review, “If you can make it in Atlantic City, you can make it anywhere in the world.” Mays said the other salesmen saw his potential and simply offered tips on how to improve his schtick. But it was that Pittsburgh Home and Garden Show where Mays was given his biggest break. Just mere hours into selling a product, the other salesman wore out. Mays was ready and took the mic and carried the show the rest of the day. A few years Mays was hired to sell Orange Glo on HSN.
This spring you’ll see Mays on the Discovery Channel reality series, “Pitchman: Gadgets to Glory.”