Miami Senior High, the oldest high school in Miami-Dade County, became a staple during the 80s when a young kid from Cuba named Marcos Rodriguez, nicknamed “Shakey” became the head coach of his dream team: the Miami High Stingarees. Shakey stepped foot onto the scene creating a home for players, and a spectacle for fans. When the final whistle blew in 1987 the Miami High Stingarees were holding the trophy, and Shakey was celebrating. Like all good things Shakey’s tenure came to an end, but not before he made Miami High into a powerhouse program. Now with its most successful head coach leaving to test his skills at the college level, Miami High bet it all on other alumni and Shakey’s pupil: Frank Martin.
In Martin’s first year a few of his players were dismissive of him, and the student body doubted this new regime. Yet in true Miami High spirit, the young Martin found a way to bring his team together and as they say in the streets, “prove the haters wrong”, to capture the first of three straight state titles. The following two years saw Frank Martin and Miami High welcome 3x NBA champion Udonis Haslem, a young kid from one of Miami’s roughest neighborhoods who was as hungry to win as he was to learn about the game. They also embraced Steve Blake a prior county rival turned teammate and many other countless kids who just wanted to be part of a family.
But soon thereafter local newspaper Miami New Times put out an article pinpointing the school, its faculty, and its head basketball coach as illegal recruiters. The article reached the Florida High School Sports Association and led to an investigation that Frank Martin felt was one-sided as he was never interviewed by the governing body regarding the scandal.
To their surprise, the severity of the punishment handed impacted every single person who had been with Miami High’s basketball program in the last decade and affected the immediate futures of some of today’s biggest basketball stars. Their story has never been told, and it’s a crazy one, which is why it could only happen in one place: The Asylum.