The Mighty Vandals
Directed by Barbara Acker
The story of the 1951 championship Mighty Vandals high school basketball team. Three years before the U.S. Supreme Court ended racial segregation in the public schools, a team of predominantly Mexican American teens living in Miami, Arizona goes undefeated and clinches the state championship. The Southeastern Arizona mining town of Miami is the kind of place that people usually leave if they expect to make it big. Not in 1951.
The Mighty Valdals in the Press
Miner Miracle
By Steve Jansen
A most opportune time to show this great human interest story which will impact the general audience, motivate youth, and help create a better image of Miami, Arizona and its residents. Wish you the best. Santos C. Vega
At last a great story of the Miami Vandals championship basketball team of 1951 will be told in a drama worth showing. Congratulations. Santos C. Vega
Sounds like a great story. As a Miami, Arizona descendent, I would love to see the play but I’m located on the East Coast. Any chance there will be a DVD of the play?
Thanks, Cynthia
I’ll be recording it for the company’s archives and hope it becomes a screenplay. If I record it on DVD for our archives, I’ll make mention of it on our website. Please tell your friends. We’re performing for three weeks are Lunchtime Theater.
This truly is a heartfelt and inspiring story. If you enjoy this play; you will not be disppointed by the book titled The Mighty Miami Vandals – A Scrapbook of the Arizona 1950-51 Miami High School Basketball Team published in 2008. It is the complete history of the greatest high school basketball team Arizona has ever seen. Miami, Arizona should be very proud of these men and their story. The author is Wilfred “Sonny” Peña; please email losfigueroas@cox.net if you would like more information on this book. Thank you.
As a member of the 1951 Miami Vandals team, I would like to thank James Garcia, Barbara Acker and the New Carpa Theater for bringing our story to life. I will be traveling from Los Angeles on Sep 26 to see the production in person. I am looking forward to meeting you all God willing. Good luck!
AL
I will see the production on Thursday. I’ve read the book and look forward to the play.
A freshman at the time, one of the many who packed the tiny home court, and a student of Coach Ernest Kivisto’s freshman English class, we were told repeatedly by Kivisto that the Vandal Team was a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience, that we would not see such again during our lifetime, and he was right, except maybe once again on DVD. I hope it (“The Mighty Vandals”) is recorded on DVD so I can relive and enjoy the memory, and I could mayhap show the DVD to acquaintances who may have doubted my ‘tall tales’ of this phenomenal high school basketball team that lives in my memory. A debt of thanks to James Garcia, Barbara Acker, and the New Carpa Theater for sparking up our memories, of a the truly golden age of our youth in Miami, Arizona.
A nice article in today’s Arizona Republic. I am Eli “Teddy” Lazovich’s daughter and will be attending Friday night’s performance at Phoenix College. My brother and sister and I still occassionally visit Miami; have lunch at the El Rey Cafe; peer in the windows of the Real Market; and check on my Grandfather Sam’s former office. My Grandmother saved every scrap of paper ever written about the Miami team. Surprisingly, this is not something my Dad talked about much. But, Fito Trujillo was always dear to him.
Thank you for sharing this incredible and memorable event of the past. James Garcia is an exceptional and gifted playwright.