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Who was Traz Powell?

TheMatador said:
I wonder if he knew Cliff Murrell, a longtime teacher at NM High who also served as business manager or some other administrative position. The '63 North Miami team was pretty good. Had future UM players Joe Mirto and Vic Bender. Gables was the best that year, though.
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Dad knew Mirto (WWF wrestler for a while), said he was big. I saw Mirto wrestle in the mid 80s. He had a gut, a jobber. I could see a former athlete under the exterior.
MedleyCane said:
A pretty good MLB pitcher by the name of Steve Carlton graduated from NM HS.
One of my teachers at HML (Ms. Klores) dated him in HS.
I believe she had a brother who was a long-time coach at Carol City HS too.
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My father told stories of Carlton throwing cue balls in the billiard hall... at other guys. Steve ran with a tough enough crowd himself.
 
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sfbomber said:
Dad knew Mirto (WWF wrestler for a while), said he was big. I saw Mirto wrestle in the mid 80s. He had a gut, a jobber. I could see a former athlete under the exterior.

My father told stories of Carlton throwing cue balls in the billiard hall... at other guys. Steve ran with a tough enough crowd himself.
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The question is, did he throw em left-handed??...and were they screwballs??
 
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Fly tips his hat to Coach Willie McDonald who coached at Glades Central in the 1970s. Very good coach, better man...................thanks Coach.
 
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sfbomber said:
I went to school with Marty's daughter, Marla.
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I might have met her when I visited the store. I think he had a daughter who went to FSU. That's stretching my memory over thirty years. Marty was one of those old time Miami Beach guys, ended up at UM in the '50's. Maybe around the same time as Skippy Bertman. (We called him Skippy--was P.E. teacher and a coach at Beach High Reached the pinnacle-- wasn't he the AD at LSU?).

I think Marty had regular business in the Hecht Center. He sometimes gave us some insider info because he's go in the recruiting office and look at the board of recruits. That was the late '80's.
 
MedleyCane said:
Yeah, anytime we had a scrimmage against [insert name] Boys Club, it was time to fasten the chin-strap a notch tighter.
Those dudes played like someone had slapped their mommas, and that was fine because we had some good teams ourselves
and it brought out the best of us.
We also had some good games against Richmond-Perrine Optimist over the years.
Not sure who played on those teams, but it wouldn't surprise me if many of those kids ended up at Southridge and Killian HS, who
had some really talented programs during my junior and senior year of HS.
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I remember when Beach High integrated. Very quietly. A Black kid was in school in '63. No big deal. He was not prominent, like an athlete. Just a regular kid. The Beach kids ******, didn't grow up with racism so prevalent in the South. I moved up to Cocoa Beach at the end of '63 and started at Cocoa High. It was not yet integrated. I was really shocked and disgusted in the frequent use of the N-word by a number of the kids. Never heard this kind of stuff at Beach High.
 
TpaBayFlyFisher said:
Fly tips his hat to Coach Willie McDonald who coached at Glades Central in the 1970s. Very good coach, better man...................thanks Coach.
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What was Belle Glade like back then? In the 1980's I started reading about the AIDs problem, perhaps partly related to spread by mosquitoes and horrible poverty in the Belle Glade area. I guess the entire Muck area was pretty poor and might still be
 
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TheMatador said:
I remember when Beach High integrated. Very quietly. A Black kid was in school in '63. No big deal. He was not prominent, like an athlete. Just a regular kid. The Beach kids ******, didn't grow up with racism so prevalent in the South. I moved up to Cocoa Beach at the end of '63 and started at Cocoa High. It was not yet integrated. I was really shocked and disgusted in the frequent use of the N-word by a number of the kids. Never heard this kind of stuff at Beach High.
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There was actually some of that in Dade County before the 1970s.
It was before my time, but I remember several African-Americans telling me it was a no-no to drive into Hialeah, especially via that bridge that goes
over the train tracks at 103rd/49th street.
I was told the cops would be parked near the bridge checking to see who came into Hialeah.
It was before my time, but this is what I was told.
I do remember the big brouhaha in the news over Miami Dade Christian allowing black students into their school.
If I recall, this was in the mid1970s.
 
'60's thru '70's playing Miami High in the Orange Bowl was interesting due to the fact the opposing team would trot out their 35 or so players and then the Stingarees would come out of the South tunnel in single file with what seemed like 100 players in their Darth Vader like all dark blue/black helmets and uniforms as their fight song loudly echoed through the stadium. Message sent!

During those days the high school football powerhouses were Miami High, Edison, Coral Gables and Jackson, with Norland and North Miami starting to come online. When you played South Dade High School down at their place with black players on your roster it was like Mississippi circa 1950 as when you entered the stadium parking lot and exited the "fans" threw rocks and bottles at the opposing team buses along with them screaming "N-word lovers".

How about "Lefty" Schemer who was a Miami superstar in his day.
 
TheMatador said:
Ali? Yep, 5th Street Gym. Right in the heart of what we used to call "Bagel Beach."

No topless models back then, just elderly ****** immigrants of very modest means.
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On Washington Avenue, it was known as "World Famous" or "Dundee's" Gym. Was in there many times with my dad. He knew Chris fairly well. Jimmy Ellis trained there a lot. So did Ali but not so much. Jimmy Ellis was a really nice man. Remember he had did a exhibition for a bunch of kids. I was there. He asked for a volunteer. I volunteered. I think I was all of 7 and I went at him swinging wildly. He said "slow down tiger". Great memory.

There was a gym a couple of doors down called Dalia's Gym. Owned by Dalia Valle, I worked out there during high school. At Beach all we had was a crappy Olympic machine in the locker. Back to Dalia. This gal must have been 5' maybe 105 pounds. She was ripped and a **** of a bodybuilding coach. She had great leg equipment, especially a sled machine. This was very rare for the mid-1970s. I was scared ****less of her. If you clanged her weights, she would yell at you very sternly. If you did it again, she would throw you out of her gym.
 
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http://www.5thstgym.com/history/
 
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@TheMatador you are a treasure trove and we are all better for having you bless us with your remembrances. Thank you.

Yeah, Marty's daughter did go to FSU. That was the "cool kid" school at the time for the NMB kids. The smarter kids went to UF or the Ivy League.

And Bertman was AD at LSU after heading their baseball program. He was the coach when Robbie Morrison gave up the gopher to Warren Morris in '96. I can still see it in my mind and it gives me a headache every time.

What could have been if we were able to hold onto Bertman...
 
sfbomber said:
@TheMatador you are a treasure trove and we are all better for having you bless us with your remembrances. Thank you.

Yeah, Marty's daughter did go to FSU. That was the "cool kid" school at the time for the NMB kids. The smarter kids went to UF or the Ivy League.

And Bertman was AD at LSU after heading their baseball program. He was the coach when Robbie Morrison gave up the gopher to Warren Morris in '96. I can still see it in my mind and it gives me a headache every time.

What could have been if we were able to hold onto Bertman...
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The Bertman & Fraser families are still very close...I'm good friends with Coach Frasers Daughter Cynthia....Was with her a month ago at a UM BB game...
 
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TheMatador said:
What was Belle Glade like back then? In the 1980's I started reading about the AIDs problem, perhaps partly related to spread by mosquitoes and horrible poverty in the Belle Glade area. I guess the entire Muck area was pretty poor and might still be
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It was very poor. But the people were in general very good. No one locked their doors and everyone left their keys in their cars. To get a life other than working in the fields, you either excelled at sports or sold drugs. That is probably why so many NFL guys came from there.

Coach McDonald was a real hero. He gave a few of us keys to the gym so we could play hoops all night which many of us, non drug guys did. I know it was against the rules but he did it to help us. I might add, even though I went to the "rich kids school" Glades Day School, Coach McDonald allowed me to practice with his guys just like I was one of them. While none of us made the NBA, lots of us got to go to college for free. There were dozens of kids who ended up with good educations and jobs because of his efforts.
 
TpaBayFlyFisher said:
It was very poor. But the people were in general very good. No one locked their doors and everyone left their keys in their cars. To get a life other than working in the fields, you either excelled at sports or sold drugs. That is probably why so many NFL guys came from there.

Coach McDonald was a real hero. He gave a few of us keys to the gym so we could play hoops all night which many of us, non drug guys did. I know it was against the rules but he did it to help us. I might add, even though I went to the "rich kids school" Glades Day School, Coach McDonald allowed me to practice with his guys just like I was one of them. While none of us made the NBA, lots of us got to go to college for free. There were dozens of kids who ended up with good educations and jobs because of his efforts.
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Great Story...
 
TheMatador said:
Years ago--in the mid-60's--I had a college friend whose father owned a deli in the N. Miami/N. Miami Beach area called Obie's Deli (I think). It was attached to a grocery store as I recall. I was only there once. Over 50 years ago, about 1966.
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My mother and father graduated from Beach High around 66-67. My dad owned a clothing store on Washington Ave and Mickey Rourke was his employee.
 
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