William “Bogs” Adornado is a Filipino former basketball player and coach. He is one of the Philippine Basketball Association’s Greatest Players and was inducted to its Hall of Fame in 2005.
One of the pioneers of the Philippine Basketball Association when the league was formed in 1975, Bogs Adornado began his professional career with powerhouse Crispa Redmanizers under legendary coach Virgilio “Baby” Dalupan. On April 27, 1975 marked the PBA debut of the sweet shooting forward from Bicol, scoring 32 points to lead Crispa past Tanduay. With Adornado leading the offensive juggernaut along with luminaries Philip Cezar and Atoy Co, Crispa won the ’75 Invitational, preempting a Toyota grand slam in PBA’s maiden season. Bogs Adornado was also awarded the very first PBA Most Valuable Player (MVP), an award he would also win in ’76.
On July 11, 1976, with Crispa winning the All-Filipino Conference, Adornado scored 24 points to become the first player to reach 2,000 points. In the 1976 Open Conference, Adornado suffered a knee injury that forced him to miss action for the rest of the season and also the following year. Having recovered from the injury that almost ended his playing career, he came back in 1978 but played sparingly as his old starting forward spot was already taken by 1977 MVP awardee Freddie Hubalde. As he was slowly regaining his old form, Crispa won another championship at the expense of rival Toyota in the All Filipino Conference of the 1979 PBA season.
In 1980, after playing only seven games for Crispa, the Redmanizers released Adornado to the U/Tex Wranglers for the sum of 100,000 PhP. Teaming-up with Lim Eng Beng and reinforced by imports Aaron James and Glenn McDonald, led U/Tex to a memorable comeback win over the Toyota Tamaraws in the 1980 PBA Open Conference championship. The game was marked by U/Tex’s “miracle” run as they wiped out a 4-point deficit with 16 seconds left in regulation and winning in overtime on a basket by Adornado with 1:25 remaining in the game.
On Nov. 30, 1980, in a game between the Wranglers and the San Miguel Beermen, Adornado played perhaps the best game of his PBA career as he scored 64 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, handed out 3 assists and made 1 block shot in 40:42 minutes of playing time. The 64 points was the highest ever by a local player at that time, a record he shared with Danny Florencio. That same season, Adornado cracked the Mythical 5 for the third time in his PBA career, a classic case of retribution. In 1981, Adornado won his third MVP award while powering the Wranglers to a runner-up finish in the 1981 Reinforced Conference Finals against Crispa. The 1,334 points he scored in 51 games was the most scored by any player in 1981.
