The boys, three of them, came to the door and knocked.
'Can we get a few cards?' one asked through the glass.
Carol Bryant waved them in. Sorry, she explained, the shopactually was closed for a while. She had stopped in only briefly.
The boys stayed for a few minutes. They had heard the news thather husband, Bill Bryant, the owner and usual operator of The Wax BoxSports Cards and Collectibles, had passed away earlier this month.
'He was a good dude,' said Leland Saunders, 14.
Heath Pascoe, 12, remembered being 'shocked' to hear of Bryant'sdeath at age 58.
Visits to The Wax Box, they said, were a big part of their lives.
'I think it's the best card shop,' 17-year-old Timothy Belchersaid.
Many sports fans and collectors in Southwest Roanoke would agree.The Wax Box, located on Colonial Avenue near Towers Shopping Center,has been a local fixture since 1991, keeping it simple in an erawhen the sports memorabilia industry has largely moved on to glossyspecialty cards and high-priced Internet sales.
'I was touched to see how big an effect he'd had on thecommunity,' Bill's sister Sandy Bryant said of her visit home forthe memorial service. She lives in Charlottesville. 'Several peoplecame to me at the viewing and said that they were customers ... andthat Bill was always so passionate about following his teams that hejust made it all so much more fun for them.'
Bill had been in poor health the past three years, but his lovefor sports and his native Roanoke community remained strong.
'Few people find a job that they really love, and he really lovedhis card shop,' Carol Bryant said.
Other shops had turned over large portions of their inventory toautographs and other specialty items in recent years, but Billdeliberately kept The Wax Box simple and timeless.
His business was rooted in the cards themselves, particularlyolder cards. They sit on shelves and in glass cases in the shop'ssmall front room, where Bill would hold court from behind thecounter in his orange chair.
A green couch, four counter stools and two other chairs providedplenty of seating for visitors -- and a good view of the televisionin the front corner.
'This was kind of the barbershop, where it was OK if people camein and just hung around and didn't buy things,' Carol said. 'Theywould watch a ballgame on the TV and just sit and talk.'
'Anybody would show up in there,' his friend Bobby Biggs said.'From somebody who didn't have a job to a noted doctor or lawyer.'
Six plaques near the door feature just a few of the youth teamsthe Wax Box sponsored over the years. A large orange-and-blueCavaliers flag is displayed prominently, evidence of Bill's abidinglove for University of Virginia sports.
In the back room, patrons could sit at tables against the wall andbrowse through rows of cards. A mini-fridge stocked with sodas standsnext to snacks and candy on sale for 50 cents.
Soon this will all belong to someone else. Carol, a night nurse atCarilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, plans to sell The Wax Box and itsinventory to one of his 'friends and customers' who has expressedinterest in the business. The potential buyer intends to reopen theshop quickly, she said.
'I would love to see it [continue]' she said. 'I just can't run itmyself.'
Bill Bryant delivered furniture and couriered packages before establishing a modest card shop in Salem in 1990. He was amongseveral entrepreneurs who sold sports cards and memorabilia eachweekend at Happy's Flea Market on Williamson Road.
'It always was deep in his heart,' Carol said. 'Then he got thechance to kind of dabble in it a little bit and it just bloomed. Hedecided to go with something he really enjoyed.'
After a year in Salem, he moved into a larger shop on ColonialAvenue.
The timing could scarcely have been better. Sales of sports cardsand collectibles boomed in the early 1990s, and Bill and Carolsettled into a comfortable life.
'He really didn't focus on how much money he made,' Biggs said. 'Sometimes you wondered if he cared if he made any at all.'
Bill's medical problems began in June 2002 when he washospitalized because of fluid buildup in his chest. Surgery revealeda grim underlying cause: flesh-eating bacteria.
One of the doctors, Carol recalled, emerged from the operatingroom and put an arm around her.
'You know, people just don't recover from this,' he told her.
Bill Bryant did.
When he left Roanoke Memorial after 10 months -- three months in adrug-induced coma and seven more on a ventilator -- he was a shell ofhis formerly robust self, wasted from 280 pounds to 160 and depletedof 80 percent of his muscle mass. He was unable to walk or even situp on his own.
But with extensive physical therapy, Bill regained perhaps 65percent of his strength. Five months later, in August 2003, hereturned to The Wax Box, though his mobility remained limited.
'I felt like it was really important that he have something whenhe got out of the hospital,' said Carol, who had resisted suggestionsthat she sell the shop while her husband was incapacitated. 'Whetherhe could ever run it again or not, I didn't know, but it wasimportant at least that he had it.'
Yet the medicines that saved Bill's life also damaged his kidneys,creating chronic problems that eventually required him to begindialysis treatments about two months ago. And in turn, his heart grewweaker, leading to the apparent heart attack that ended his life athome on the morning of Sept. 6.
Bill, who also is survived by sons Troy Bryant, 34, and GregFrazier, 23, will be missed.
'In my book, he's a good guy,' said Cecil Mullens, the owner ofC&M Trading Cards on Williamson Road.
It seems The Wax Box, at least, will live on.
'He would be pleased,' Biggs said. 'He surely would.'
