Sports Weekly Magazine
April 28-May 5, 1978
It had been a full seven minutes since the defending champion Crispa Redmanizers shuffled out of the Araneta hardcourt and back to their locker room, the unlikely victims of a jarring upset impressively carved out by Coach Tommy Manotoc’s U/Tex Wranglers in the big game of the 1978 PBA All-Filipino conference’s inaugural doubleheader.
Normally, such a shocking opening day outcome would have been enough to transform the Crispa dugout into local pro basketball’s version of a funeral home, but this wasn’t to be one of those nights.
Not really because an opening day loss isn’t a setback from which the two-time PBA All-Filipino champs can’t recover, but rather the fact that after nearly two years, the ballclub’s most devastating hit man, good ol’ No. 11 himself, William (Bogs) Adornado, has made his way back to the Crispa lineup.
Bogs was, to be sure, a long time coming.
Since he hurt his knee towards the tailend of the first conference of the PBA’s 1976 season, a year when the Redmanizers scored the league’s first eye-popping grand slam, the former UST Glowing Goldie has been on Crispa’s inactive list.
He underwent a series of treatments for his injured knee after that, including a surgery performed around the middle last year at the Cardinal Santos Memorial Hospital at Greenhills, San Juan, Rizal. Still, his return to the game which he has played so well both as an amateur and a pro remained very much in doubt.
And when during the last electoral campaign for IBP seats, during which the Crispa team played exhibition games to boost the candidacy of Crispa owner and founder, Pablo Floro, Bogs continued to remain on the sidelines although he has joined in its sorties for Don Pablo, this further raised doubts about his ability to come back.
His name, however, was included by Crispa owner and manager, Danny Floro, in the lineup which the ballclub submitted for the first conference. Despite this, no one, not even Floro or Coach Baby Dalupan himself, was sure whether Adornado would take the first step leading to a long-awaited comeback.
Said Floro when asked whether the inclusion of Bogs’ name in the team slate meant he was all set to play. “It all depends on Bogs. Na sa kanya yun.”
A similar view was expressed by Coach Dalupan, who said, “Only Adornado who can decide whether he’s ready or not.”
Both made it clear they were not about to push Bogs back into the hardcourt, because the extent of his injury was such that only he could really decide whether physically and mentally, but most of all, mentally, he is ready for a comeback.
As for Bogs himself, he remained non-committal although he had told friends that physically, he’s about as fit he can possibly be. He was obviously referring to the jogging and scrimmage sessions that he had been doing since he checked out of the hospital following his operation.
Asked on the eve of the PBA opening whether he’ll play in Crispa’s first game, he said, “we’ll see.”
And so game time for Crispa in its first match of the season came and what the fullhouse of some 30,000 at the Big Dome saw as the Redmanizers made their way in for the ritualistic warmup was Bogs garbed in his old No. 11 uniform.
Very quickly, his presence on the hardcourt in Crispa’s full regalia touched off a buzzing in the stands. Later, the buzzing turned to hard claps and then into an explosion of cheers as Bogs made the first ever field goal he has ever attempted in a PBA game since he was sidelined.
He made another field goal after that, and then went 100 percent on six free throws to finish night with 10 points.
The output – two FG’s and six FT’s – wasn’t anything close to the bushelful of points that Adornado used to rack up before he was injured and forced to spend the next two years on the sidelines, but it wasn’t so bad for a ballplayer who was just trying to get used again to the feel of the hardcourt.
As Crispa manager Floro said: “We couldn’t ask for more.”
Crispa certainly can’t. The fact alone that it has got Bogs back ought to make up for that stiff one at the jaw which the Redmanizers took from the U/Tex Wranglers.
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