Things ever get out of hand?
The one at the U.S. Grand was pretty crazy because there
were so many people-too many people.
When you show up is everyone like, "Willy!"?
Yeah, they want to get in for free and stuff, so I try and
What happened with Duffs?
Gosh, when I quit they said that I owed
them money.
How does that work?
He was saying, "Oh, we've been overpaying
wouldn't stop. I ended up having to sleep on the
balcony of the hotel room because they were up
making noise and wrecking things all night.
There were mosquitoes out there and I got tons
of mosquito bites. They just went totally over-
es and was out for a month or so. I dislocated my
elbow at Woodward three summers ago.
Did it hurt?
Oh yeah. It was out of socket for over three
hours because we had to drive into State College
Do you have any ritu-
als to land tricks?
Sometimes I do kick-
flips before my contest
runs. I'm just like, "I've
"When I went to pack up my stuff, I noticed this terrible smell. Weath had taken a blat in my bag."
hide. The last one I
didn't even get to go
because I was in Texas,
so my brother took
care of it.
How come you still
live at home?
I'm looking for a
house right now, but
it's strictly for tax pur-
poses. Taxes suck.
I've heard that
you're the breadwin-
ner in the family.
Lately I've been tak-
ing care of the phone
bill. A couple of
you." So I said, "Well I've got some photos coming
out in the magazines wearing the shoes so that
will take care of you." And they said, "OK." They
went on tour for like three weeks, or something
like that, and I kept calling the team manager for a
straight week, leaving messages, and he never
called me back. I just wanted to know if
if the tour
was full, or if I could go, or what, and he wouldn't
call me back. I thought that was pretty lame. I was
stoked on Duffs. I liked their image and everything
but they weren't into it I guess.
So you ride for Vans now?
Yeah. I'm way stoked on them. Right when I
got on the team they made 10,000 posters of me
and the other team riders. I was pretty stoked on
that. Some time late this year I'll be having a shoe
model coming out.
board. Some other stuff happened so I decided to
pour a bunch of mixed drinks in their bed. I just
put all this stuff in their bed so they'd have to
sleep on it and it would be wet and smell. The
next day I waited for their reaction but they
didn't say anything about it. Then, when I went
to pack up my stuff, I noticed this terrible smell.
Heath had taken a shit in my bag. I couldn't
believe it. He'd taken it way too far. It was so dis-
gusting. I was like, "I can't believe this." So we
almost fought and I was really pissed all the way
home. When we got to the airport, my girlfriend
came to pick me up with these really big friends
of ours and I was almost thinking of getting them
to kick Heath's ass, but I didn't. I don't think tak-
ing revenge is a good thing. Heath was looking.
kind of scared though. I was really pissed, but
to get it checked out. And I always cut my hand
open. The whole summer it was pretty much an
open wound. I jack my ankles sometimes. I
always have little injuries.
What's your stand on drug use?
It seems like a lot of kids are into smoking weed.
Like this morning at Huntington Beach skatepark I
smelled kids smoking weed. Whatever floats your
boat, I don't care. I don't do it personally. I have
done it, but I'm not going to do it again.
You ever killed an animal on purpose?
Not lately, but me and Shalihe used to catch frogs
and feed them to the fish and turtles. It was like
National Geographic. You could see the struggle and
the skin coming off. It was gnarly, but interesting.
Have you ever shot a gun?
No, but I was shot point-blank-range with a paint
got to do it."
What's the number-
one reason to quit
skateboarding?
It's got
to
be
when
you're not
having fun any-
more. That's it.
Who are your
top three
favorite
skaters of all
time?
Willy's boa
illy's board sucks up
to his feet like a well-paid
Yes-man, after flipping
and spinning
backside 180°
Eric Koston,
Tony Hawk, and
over this chain.
Nollie big spin
caught high above the
stairs where
90210 was filmed.
months ago I
bought my mom
a refrigerator.
Uh, oh.
Yep. And I gave her a thousand bucks for a trip to
the Philippines, but that fell through. I let her keep
the money though.
Are your parents proud of you?
They were always happy as long as I had the good
grades. They want me to go to school, but I don't
have the time right now. I want to skateboard while
I'm in my prime, or whatever. I may go to school
later though.
How many brothers and sisters do you have?
I got three brothers, Wilmer, William, and Wilfredo Jr.,
and one sister who lives in Okinawa-She's married.
Are all your brothers involved in your enterprises?
No, no. I hook them up with T-shirts and stuff, and
they'll wear that to school. One's really into basketball,
and the other's really into wrestling and video games.
That's William. He's the youngest one.
52 THRASHER
Some of these skate shoes are like 90 bucks
these days. Do you think they're going a little
bit overboard on shoes?
It is a little expensive, but it's just the materials
they use on the shoes are expensive. I wish they
could be 30 dollars. You can find some shoes for
30 dollars, but maybe not the best shoes.
From what I've read about you in the mag-
azines, there's talk that you get picked on
sometimes. Who's picking on you?
It's mostly just friends fooling around, but Jeremy
Klein, sometimes. When he's with Heath and Dan
Rogers, it can get bad.
can get
Do you ever get bummed out?
In Hawaii, Heath and I almost ended up fighting,
but Josh broke it up.
What happened?
We were all over there to shoot ads for Duffs
and Josh and Heath were just getting obnoxious.
They decided to spill beer on my head while a
picture was taken. It was funny, but they just
we're OK now.
Who's your crew you skate with usually?
My crew? The Notorious B.O.B., Bob
Altamirano, Cris Alhambra, Brian Young and
Dan Rogers. Pro skaters I skate with are like
Dan, Donger, John Reeves, June Cate, Jeremy,
Andrew, those guys.
What's the happiest you've ever been?
I guess I'm happy right now. I didn't really know
how well Birdhouse was doing until I got an enve-
lope from them around Christmas. I just thought it
was a Christmas card like the year before, but it
was a bonus check. It was really nice. I'm just
happy that I can buy things like a car and a
house and not have to worry about that.stuff.
I'm happy we're making money.
What's the worst injury you've ever had?
I'll just list a couple. My knee. I was skating at
mini-ramp when I was thirteen and I cut my
knee open. I was wearing an elbow pad that
was cracked and cut my knee open. I got stitch-
ball gun. Me and my friend were in his truck and
he's like, pointing at me, going, "It's not loaded,"
and I'm like, "No!" and then BOOM! That killed.
Then another time I was just walking in downtown
La Jolla, in the Prospect area, and I was just going
to my car to get some money and this Volkswagen
cruises by and shot paint balls right at my back,
shot pain
and I was like, "Oh, I'm shot!"
Did you think you were really shot?
I did for a second and then I reached to my
back and was all, "Oh, paint balls." It was
strange because it was within six months of
when my friend shot me. When me and my
brother were living the Philippines, we were
really little and heavily influenced by Japanese
cartoons and we had darts and we were throw-
ing them near each other and then he threw one
right at me and it speared me in the shin and
was just like stuck there. I was like seven or
eight and it went all the way in. I pulled it out
and there was a little hole.
Jeremy Klein. I remember when
Jeremy rode for World, I'd watch his
whole video part in slow motion.
Same with Hensley. Guy Mariano,
Daewon-there's so many guys.
What's some advice for the kids?
My advice is when you're not making
your tricks, just think back to when you
first started and how much fun it was.
I'm sure that's what a lot of skaters
who are into snowboarding feel.
Learning is what keeps you going.
Do you ever get road rage?
Only when I'm following you around try-
ing to find spots in LA. Actually, I'm super-
stoked that this whole interview was shot
outside of San Diego.
Thanks, Willy.
Have a nice day. I love you Shalihe.
Brian, thanks for writing on my shoe.