Commercial maker/star Billy Mays fires bugs at a windshield for a commercial. (AP)

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Billy Mays was a throwback.

He was a true salesman — people may not have loved his loud, sometimes grating voice, but you never forgot what he was selling. And let’s face it, you knew that when you heard that almost sing-songy “Hi, BILLY MAYS here!”, his pitch was sure to follow.

Mays also came up through the ranks in that old-school American fashion. He pulled himself up by his bootstraps and worked hard, at a time when that seemed outdated.

Mays, who died Sunday at the age of 50 in Tampa, started out after dropping out of college on the boardwalk in Atlantic City in the early 1990s, selling products to passers-by. He caught a break when a fellow salesman offered him the chance to sell his own product called OrangeGlo. The citrus cleaner was soon followed by OxiClean, a much more well-known product.

OrangeGlo and OxiClean got Mays onto television, and that’s where we began seeing the burly, bearded guy, always clad in what he called the “dress blues” — a blue work shirt and khaki pants.

To me, Mays was a success because — as we saw in his new Discovery Channel reality show “Pitchmen” — he had to believe in the product before he can sell it. That sincerity always seemed to come through with every pitch. Mays seemed happy to be selling you the latest cleaning fluid or adhesive.

And Mays had a great sense of humor about himself. His commercials for ESPN360, a Web site that provides live sports, poked fun at his homespun style.

Compare Mays’ personality with the man who basically was his biggest rival, Vince Offer. Offer knows the art of the pitch to be sure — his ShamWow commercials are pretty much legendary. But Offer’s salesmanship lacks the genuineness that Mays provided.

“Pitchmen” began to reveal Mays as a likeable personality and gave people a look at the world of commercials — their low budgets and short bursts forced guys like Mays and his costar and friend, Anthony Sullivan, to quickly get both their message and personality across.

And in Mays’ case, you didn’t mind him bringing his latest ware into your home for a little while.

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