Atléticos de San Germán

Atléticos de San Germán
Nickname	El monstruo anaranjado (The Orange Monster)
League	Baloncesto Superior Nacional
Founded	1930 (1930)
History	Atléticos de San Germán 1930–present
Arena	Arquelio Torres Ramírez Coliseum
Capacity	5,000
Location	San Germán, Puerto Rico
Team colors	Orange, Black, White
Head coach	Eddie Casiano
Assistant(s)	Manolo Cintrón Héctor Porrata
Ownership	José Rivera Juan Ramón
BSN titles	14 (1932, 1938, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1985, 1991, 1994, 1997)
Website	Official website
Home Away Alternate

Atléticos de San Germán is a basketball club of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN) based in San Germán, Puerto Rico.

Founded in the 1930s after the amalgamation of the old San Germán team and the Farmacia Martín team, the team is one of the original BSN franchises. The Athletics play their home games at the Arquelio Torres Ramírez Coliseum. The franchise's fourteen championships are tied with the Leones de Ponces for the second most of any BSN franchise, and account for 16.8% of all BSN championships since the league's tournaments began in 1930. This makes the "Atléticos de San Germán" the most successful basketball club to date of all professional sports franchises in the western part of Puerto Rico and the town itself is known as "La cuna del baloncesto en Puerto Rico" (the cradle of basketball in Puerto Rico).

Their mascot "The Orange Monster" is a part of the team's image, featuring prominently in its logo and being the club nickname for decades. The team's nickname is "El monstruo anaranjado" "The Orange Monster")

The Athletics rise again after struggling through the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s to win a championship in 1985 over the Mets de Guaynabo. Following the 1985 championship, San Germán began to develop many young, talented players who would later lead them to three more championships within the next twelve years.

History

During the 1930s and 40s the team was undoubtedly the best in the league, winning ten championships between 1932 and 1950, including many by local basketball legend Arquelio Torres Ramírez. Torres Ramírez is fondly remembered as "El Pequeño Titán" (The little titan) and is still San Germán's most notorious player. After his sudden death in 1949, the team went in a downwards spiral; making several finals appearances but failing to win a championship until the aforementioned one in 1985. The first title after 1985 came in 1991 when development of the talented young players peaked. Under the guidance and stellar play of José "Piculín" Ortíz the "Atléticos" won their second championship in six years. The 1991 team, however was quite different from the '85 team. It was very young (with the exception of Ortíz) and for that reason it had received, during the latter years of the 80's decade, the nickname of "Los Nenes" (The boys or "The kids"). It included Eddie Casiano, Nelson Quiñones, Luis Allende, Yan Garcia and Oscar Santiago, the core of the Atléticos who won the championship in 1994.

Soon after, public feuds between Ortíz and the team owner led the star center to move to Europe to play in Greece. The young players then reaching the height of their careers then won another championship for San Germán. In 1997, Eddie Casiano carried the team to victory over an underdog Carolina team. The great play of Quiñones and Casiano led San Germán to their league leading 14th championship.

A change of ownership and more disputes eventually led San Germán to trade Eddie Casiano to the Leones de Ponce. Ortíz returned from Europe, but was then traded to the Cangrejeros de Santurce. Both players have won championships with their respective teams while San Germán is still in the hunt for the 15th championship.

Players

Current roster

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

Atléticos de San Germán roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age PG 2 Fernández, Tjader 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 178 lb (81 kg) 30 – (1994-01-28)January 28, 1994 G 1 Mason, Nate (I) 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 190 lb (86 kg) 29 – (1995-07-25)25 July 1995 G/F 7 Erazo, Josué 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 29 – (1995-04-07)April 7, 1995 PG 8 González, Luis 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 27 – (1997-02-15)February 15, 1997 PG 10 Sanabria, Glenn 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 28 – (1996-06-28)June 28, 1996 G 11 Santos, Kenneth 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 26 – (1998-02-23)February 23, 1998 C 12 Díaz, Jorge 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 250 lb (110 kg) 34 – (1989-11-13)November 13, 1989 G 13 Huertas, Hiram 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 27 – (1997-08-25)August 25, 1997 PF 15 Hernández, Luis 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 36 – (1988-07-16)July 16, 1988 PF 16 Villaman, Pedro 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 230 lb (100 kg) 27 – (1996-11-13)November 13, 1996 PF 50 Mitch Creek (I) 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 32 – (1992-04-27)April 27, 1992 F 23 Venable-González, Goree 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 27 – (1997-07-04)July 4, 1997 SG 24 Miranda, Miguel 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 23 – (2001-01-01)January 1, 2001 PF 35 Gordon, Antonio 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 23 – (2001-03-06)March 6, 2001 SG 45 Rodríguez, José 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 32 – (1992-10-22)October 22, 1992	Head coach Eddie Casiano Assistant coach(es) Manolo Cintrón Héctor Porrata Legend (C) Team captain (I) Import player Injured Roster Updated: October 5, 2022

Depth chart

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench 1	Bench 2
C	Jorge Bryan Díaz	Luis Hernández
PF	Rondae Hollis- Jefferson	Antonio Gordon	Goree Venable-Gonzalez
SF	Josué Erazo
SG	Tjader Fernández	José Rodríguez	Hiram Huertas
PG	Nate Mason	Glenn Sanabria	Luis González

Notable players

• Tu Holloway
• O. J. Mayo
• Alpha Bangura
• Earl Barron
• Eddie Casiano
• Norris Cole
• José Ortiz
• Paris Bass
• Rondae Hollis-Jefferson

External links

• Puerto Rican League official website (in Spanish)