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This Day in PBA History: Adornado joins 10,000 points club

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Rey Joble

<p>Had it not been for a knee injury that sidelined him for about three years, William &quot;Bogs&quot; Adornado would have been the first player to reach the 5,000-point and 10,000-point club.</p><p>But the PBA&#x27;s first three-time Most Valuable Player award winner was so determined to work his way back from an injury considered as career-threatening during that time.</p><p>On this day, April 25, 1985, while he was playing for the Shell Azodrin Bug Busters – the franchise that took over the legendary Crispa Redmanizers squad – Adornado became the third member of the league&#x27;s 10,000-point club, joining former teammate Atoy Co and Ramon Fernandez.</p><p>At Shell, Adornado immediately assumed the role as the team&#x27;s top gun.</p><p>He was supposed to play for Ginebra San Miguel to form a super squad where he will be reunited with former Philippine squad teammates-turned bitter rivals Robert Jaworski and Francis Arnaiz, but was prevented from joining the Gin Kings by then league deputy commissioner Tommy Manotoc.</p><p>&quot;I was about to sign with Ginebra,&quot; Adornado said. &quot;Nag-arrange na kami ni Sonny Jaworski. Hawak ko na ’yung ballpen and was about to make my signature, then the phone rang.&quot;</p><p>&quot;Sinabihan ako hindi daw puwedeng magsama ang dalawang superstar. It was from the PBA Office. Ginebra na sana ako noon and was about t join them and sign the contract. On my left side was Ronnie Nathanielsz and then si Jaworski naman ’yung nasa right side. Pero hindi daw puwede kaya napunta ako sa Shell.&quot;</p><p>At Shell, Adornado joined long-time teammates Philip Cezar and Bernie Fabiosa, Rey Lazaro and Bai Cristobal and rookies Leo Austria and Romy Ang as among the key players of the squad and the team went on to the finals of the 1985 All-Filipino.</p><p>Adornado, who averaged 34.5 points per game in the championship series to lead all scorers, had a vintage performance in Game 2 of their best-of-five championship series against the powerhouse Great Taste Coffee Makers, his former team.</p><p>&quot;It was one of my best games in a championship series,&quot; said Adornado, who shot a conference-high 46 points.</p><p>Adornado averaged 27.6 points per game in the All-Filipino Conference of 1985, second behind former teammate Ricardo Brown and by the end of the season, he cracked the Mythical First Team, the last of his seven inclusions in his PBA career.</p><div><em>Rey Joble is a sports journalist who has been covering the PBA since 1998, and followed the league as a fan way before that. </em></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hcbNlGr5cTw?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Adornado, one of the most prolific scorers in league history, would have racked up more points in his career if he had been healthier.