It’s shaping up as the kind of party Billy Mays might have wanted as a wake: clowns, pony rides, surprise celebrities, dancing and rock
‘n’ roll, all in the football stadium where he was the star high school linebacker, with proceeds going to the best-known charity in his hometown. “There’s so much negativity in the Rocks,” said Randy Mays, brother of the late TV pitchman. “It’s time for something good to happen here.” Billy Mays, a McKees Rocks native and 1976 Sto-Rox graduate, achieved minor celebrity by pitching products on TV infomercials. He achieved more renown with his co-starring role in the Discover Channel TV reality show “Pitchmen,” which debuted in April He died of heart failure June 28. Randy Mays said he was inspired to organize the tribute event by letters the Mays family got from children, saying how much they loved Billy. As the idea grew, the family decided to make it a benefit for Focus on Renewal, a charity which runs a soup kitchen, helped establish a library and health center and recently opened the Father Regis Ryan Center for the Arts in McKees Rocks. “My brother loved the Rocks, and no one’s done more for the Rocks than Father Ryan,” Randy Mays said. He called Father Ryan, who has run Focus on Renewal for three decades, “the gatekeeper to McKees Rocks.” Mr. Mays said he is in contact with several of his brother’s celebrity friends — including Jay Leno — to see if they can make it, has commitments from Italian and African dance troupes, and has a tentative agreement with local band Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers.
“My brother’s death has shined a light on McKees Rocks nationally,” he said. “I’d like people to see what’s good here.”