[1/12/05] Max Klaus, a decorated World War II veteran, Vicksburg sporting goods store owner and avid hunter, fisherman and conservationist, died Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2005, at the University of Alabama Medical Center in Birmingham. He was 81.

“He was a wonderful person to know,” said George “Dusty” Rhodes, who hunted with Klaus, often in distant locales. “No matter where we went, South Dakota or Mexico or wherever we went, in the afternoons around the campfires, he drew people like a magnet. People loved to hear his tales.”

The Sports Shop, which Mr. Klaus operated downtown with his twin brother, Sylvain, opened following their service in the war and quickly became a community fixture.

“They ran that place together almost forever,” said Vicksburg attorney Bobby Bailess. “From just after the war until the 1970s, The Sports Shop was the only sports outfit shop in Vicksburg.” It closed when the brothers retired to take up hunting and fishing full time.

Jeff Cowan said that’s about the time he met Max and Sylvain Klaus. “I had moved here from California and really wasn’t much of a hunter. Everything I know I learned from Max or Sylvain, and not just about hunting about a lot more than that.”

Cowan said Max Klaus “had a great outlook on life. When things were going bad, he would always find the bright side.”

In addition to equipping youths with their first ball gloves or footballs, the store offered hunting and fishing equipment of all sorts. The “shoe department” had vinyl-covered chairs that formed a bull pen for conversation among Washington Street merchants and shoppers.

Former Vicksburg Mayor Joseph Loviza said that Mr. Klaus was one-of-a-kind.

“He and his brother, Sylvain, ran The Sports Shop for some 40 or 50 years. Max was just a well-thought-of, down-to-earth person,” Loviza said. “He was good for this community and made several contributions.” He was a 50-year member of the Vicksburg Lions Club and was awarded by the city for his 50 years of service.

Oren Bailess said he will remember Mr. Klaus for his candor.

“Max was a fellow who would tell you exactly how he felt, even if it was different from the opinion you might have had,” Bailess said. “He was very straightforward.”

The Klaus brothers helped furnish just about all the sports equipment used by city and county athletic teams during the store’s 40-plus year business. In addition to selling a fishing lure would come information on how to use it.

“If you needed something sports-related, hunting or fishing, they always had it,” Bobby Bailess said. “And they were bad about trying to make you a deal.”

“Not only did they sell the teams their supplies, but Max and Sylvain always volunteered their time either as an umpire or a coach of a team,” Loviza said. “Anything involving the cycle of sports, they were involved in.”

Mr. Klaus was preceded in death by his first wife, Murph, in 1994. Survivors include his wife, Martha Ann; his brother; three children, Meta Gilliland and Max Kenneth Klaus of Vicksburg and Marsha Klaus of Pompano Beach, Fla.; and five grandchildren

Visitation will be Friday from 5 until 7 at Glenwood Funeral Home. A funeral service will be Saturday at 11 a.m. in the funeral home chapel with Dr. John McCall officiating.