Vaqueros de Bayamón (basketball)

The Vaqueros (Cowboys) are one of the greatest teams in the BSN's history, They are tied with the Atleticos de San German[?], for the most championships won, with 13 each. They are one of the few original teams left, having played non-stop since 1933.

The Vaqueros' golden age was during the early 1970s. With such players like Ruben Rodriguez and Neftali Rivera[?] on their line-up, the Vaqueros won five championships in a row, a BSN record that still stands. When Rodriguez was traded to the Vaqueros from the Gallitos de Isabela[?], that was considered by some to be sort of a BSN's version of the trade that sent Kareem Abdul Jabbar from the Milwaukee Bucks to the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA.

In 1981, they won another championship, but championships during the 1980s wouldn't come that easy. Although another legendary player, Jerome Mincy, joined them, the Vaqueros had to wait seven years, until 1988, to win another championship. During the 1990s, the Vaqueros added one more championship.

During th 1980s, the Vaqueros also had Roberto Valderas[?], Pipo Marrero[?] and Jimmy Ferrer[?], among others, as part of their team.

The Vaqueros were down three games to nothing against the Capitanes de Arecibo[?] in the 2002 semi-finals, but they became the first team in Puerto Rican basketball history to win a 7 game series after being down three games to none. Faced with a similar situation against the Leones de Ponce[?] in the finals, the Vaqueros came back to force a seventh game, but this time they lost by a score of 102-81.

The Vaqueros official sponsor has been Goya Foods for a very long time now.