Hillsborough County Medical Examiner Vernard Adams said that Mays suffered from hypertensive heart disease, and the wall of the left ventricle of Mays' heart and the wall of one of his arteries were enlarged. The boisterous, bearded 50-year-old known for hawking OxiClean and other products on national commercials was found dead Sunday by his wife, Deborah, in their Tampa condo.

"The heart disease is perfectly consistent with sudden death," Adams said.

An official cause of death will be issued after toxicology tests are completed in eight to 10 weeks.

"While it provides some closure to learn that heart disease took Billy from us, it certainly doesn't ease the enormous void that his death has created in our lives," Deborah said in a statement. "As you can imagine, we are all devastated."

Adams said that Mays was taking the prescription painkillers Tramadol and hydrocodone for hip pain, but there was no indication of drug abuse. Mays had planned to have hip-replacement surgery yesterday.

Mays told his wife he didn't feel well when he went to bed sometime after 10 p.m. Saturday. Earlier in the day, he said he was hit on the head when his flight from Philadelphia had a rough landing at Tampa International Airport. The airline said that no passengers reported serious injuries.

Adams said that the autopsy showed no evidence of head trauma.

In a 9-1-1 tape released yesterday, a frantic woman tells emergency operators that she found Mays cold and unresponsive. The woman isn't identified, but police have said that Deborah Mays found her husband dead.

When asked what had happened, the caller says she doesn't know.

A second person got on the phone as the operator encourages them to get Mays on the floor to start CPR.

"We can't get him up, ma'am," the woman says. "He's gone."

Born William Mays in McKees Rocks, Pa., on July 20, 1958, Mays developed his style demonstrating knives, mops and other "As Seen on TV" gadgets on Atlantic City's boardwalk. For years he worked as a hired gun on the state fair and home-show circuits, attracting crowds with his booming voice and genial manner.

His ubiquitousness and thumbs-up, in-your-face pitches won Mays plenty of fans for his commercials on a wide variety of products. People lined up at his personal appearances for autographed photos, and strangers stopped him in airports to chat about the products. *