An all-around athlete, William Bugbee was best known as a high-energy player on the soccer pitch. Whether it was offense or defense, he covered the field from goal line to goal line. To legendary coach Bob Clague, “Bugbee was 100 percent all the time.” It was that type of athleticism that helped elevate the Punahou soccer team to its first two state championships in 1976 and 1977, and earn Bugbee three varsity letters along the way.
A two-sport athlete who also earned a pair of varsity letters in volleyball, Bugbee was one of the first soccer players from Hawai‘i to go on to play at a college level, at UCLA, where he ultimately captained the Bruins’ 1981 squad.
Bugbee’s teams won three ILH varsity championships and Clague describes Bugbee as perhaps the No. 1 soccer player to ever come through the Punahou program.