Growing up in Kingsville, Texas, Omar remembered the "Cocineros," Spanish for Cook, who fed the working cowboys of KING Ranch. The ranch legacy is deep rooted into his ancestry through the first Vaqueros. Captain Richard King rode south from drought suffering Texas in search for good cattle. Arriving at the heart of Mexico in state of Tamaulipas, he found the people of Cruillas in such dire straits, they were willing to sell all their cattle in an attempt to survive the drought. As Capt. King drove the herd north back to Texas, he soon realized, that in solving an immediate problem for the townspeople, he had simultaneously removed their long-term means of livelihood. King turned his horse back towards the town to offer a proposal for these people. He would provide them with food, shelter and an income if they would move and come work on his ranch. The townspeople conferred and many of them agreed to move north with Captain King. These Mexican Vaqueros were already expert horseman and herders. Their resilient denizens of the rugged Mexican range became known as as Los Kineños – King's people.
