William "Bogs" Adornado (born May 26, 1951) is a Filipino professional basketball coach and former player. He is one of the Philippine Basketball Association's Greatest Players and was inducted to its Hall of Fame in 2005. He was a three-time PBA Most Valuable Player (1975, 1976, and 1981) and is considered one of the best Filipino basketball players of all-time.
Amateur career
Adornado, who began playing hoops at the age of six, was a legend playing for the then Glowing Goldies of University of Santo Tomas under the tutelage of Rogelio Serafico. At center, he was a consistent ace shooter and did a remarkable sniping job for the Espana-based dribblers in their Universities Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) exploits. In the 1967-68 season which was his rookie year, Adornado led the UST Goldies to the championship against University of the East which ended up with UST and UE being declared co-champions.
Adornado's next step to the apex of his amateur career came when he was tapped to serve the RP Youth squad, which saw flawless action in the inaugural Asian Youth Basketball Championship in Seoul, South Korea in 1970. Mentored by Ignacio "Ning" Ramos, Adornado joined efforts with Ernesto Estrada, Rosario Martires, Marte Samson, Manny Paner, Johnny Revilla, and Rodolfo Soriano to clinch the tournament's championship after sweeping all their 6 games. From then on, Adornado would become a mainstay for the Philippine national teams that competed for basketball supremacy in Asia, Olympics, and the World. He was the youngest member of the Philippine Men's Olympic basketball team that placed 13th in the 1972 Munich Games. He was a key contributor in winning back the gold (after a silver finish in 1971) for the Philippines in the 1973 Asian Basketball Confederation Championships held in Manila. His 18 ppg top scored for the Philippine team that placed 13th in the 1974 World Championships in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Commercially, Adornado played for Crispa in the old Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association (MICAA) where he played with Jun Papa, and Danny Florencio. With Papa shooting the lights out from 30 to 35 feet, and Florencio's magical penetrating moves under the basket, Adornado provided a steady presence with his calculated jumpers from medium range as Crispa would win the 1971 MICAA All-Filipino crown at the expense of the San Miguel Braves. Crispa would win one more MICAA crown in 1974, a year before the PBA was born. Among his teammates then were Alberto Guidaben, Atoy Co, Edgardo Carvajal, and Rodolfo Soriano.
PBA career
One of the pioneers of the Philippine Basketball Association when the league was formed in 1975, 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. 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.