Fil-Am takes aim at Top Shot title

MANILA, Philippines - Despite his all-American name, Billy Rogers — all 6’3”, 225 pounds of him — will proudly admit he is half-Filipino.

“I was actually born in Manila,” shares the Calabasas, California-based marksman (he is a neighbor of the Kardashians, by the way) during the exclusive phone interview with The Philippine STAR. As one of the contestants in the highly-successful History program Top Shot, Rogers is trying his hand for the coveted title — along with a grand-prize paycheck of $100,000.

“My mom’s maiden name is Bernabe, and I used to go (to the Philippines) every year until I was 10 years old,” he declares. Rogers keeps tabs on his cousins and relatives here on (where else?) Facebook, and is grateful for their expressions of support when they learned of his stint on the History competition. “I’d love to come visit there again,” he says.

Curiously, Rogers is neither SEAL nor SWAT, neither soldier nor policeman. When away from the shooting range, he runs a restaurant (yes, a restaurant) dubbed Hollywood Billiards. In case you’re wondering, Rogers also knows how to whip up (and correctly pronounce, too), adobo, lumpia, and what he calls “all the good stuff.”

Seems quite a ways from aptitude with weaponry, so we ask Billy how the trajectory of his life launched him into company with 16 contenders in Top Shot’s third season.

Rogers says he was 14 when he first, well, fell in love with firearms. “I was in my hometown of Virginia Beach, Virginia. Some friends were going out for some skeet shooting. I had never shot a gun before,” he shares. “My dad had a couple of shotguns — one of which was my grandfather’s.” Surprisingly, when he asked to borrow them, his dad replied: “Yeah, they’re in the closet.”

Rogers continues: “My dad gave me the basic safety stuff, of course. Then I got hooked. I got the bug!”

At 15, Billy commenced work at a restaurant to be close to a girl he had met at high school. Aside from that psychic reward, Rogers admits that the job funded his ever-burgeoning love for shooting. He also volunteers that being in the restaurant industry developed his social skills — skills that served him in good stead during his stint at Top Shot.

Outside of work and school, Billy started shooting a lot of trap and skeet, and was largely self-taught until he found himself training with big names in shooting. Rogers’ History release reveals that US multi-gun champion Taran Butler entered him in a local match where Billy placed eighth in a field of 70 pro shooters. On the day of our interview, he had just gone for some shooting practice with Butler.

These days, Billy is adept with “everything from rifles and shotguns to pistols and bows,” and is dead-set on “kicking some butt” in the professional shooting scene. As if that wasn’t enough, the marksman also surfs, mountain-bikes and rides motorcycles. Yes, the whole thrill-seeking nine yards.

But foremost in his mind and heart is family. “I say this all the time — family first,” maintains Rogers, who is wed to a half-Puerto Rican, half-Italian lady with whom he has two kids. “When we got married, I had a tattoo artist at my wedding,” he reveals. “If you wanted it free, you got to have ‘family first’ tattooed on your body. If you wanted anything else, you had to pay.”

When he got the call to appear on Top Shot, Billy’s wife had to convince him to take it because she was pregnant then, and would mean that Billy might have to miss the birth. “I believe everything happens for a reason,” he says.

That’s exactly how Rogers views his restaurant experience vis-a-vis Top Shot — where marksmen not only deal with weapons such as a Remington 1875 pistol and an 1877 Bulldog Gatling gun, but each other. “In the restaurant industry, you’re thrown into some of the most stressful situations, and you have to be able to think on your toes, be sharp and about your wits,” he insists. “You don’t get a second chance — like Top Shot. Your first shot should be the one.”

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So, how did our Billy Rogers do? Top Shot premiered on Feb. 28, 9 p.m. on History and airs every Tuesday until its season finale on May 8.