THE MIGHTY MIAMI VANDALS: A Scrapbook of the Arizona 1950-51 Miami High School Championship Basketball Team
Edited by Wilfred "Sonny" Gomez Pena
In 1951 the Miami High School Vandals won 27 straight games, setting state and national records on their way to becoming the Arizona state champions! The Miami Vandals were rated by many sports writers of the day as the greatest high school basketball team ever to play in Arizona. Miami High School has produced 41 championship teams in nine different sports since its opening in 1916, but none has generated the same notoriety and sense of community pride as that produced by the amazing Vandals of 1950-51.
“We were 17 and 18 years old during that magical 1950-51 basketball season,” says Adolph “Fito” Trujillo. “We had a great coach, Ernest Kivisto, who motivated us to play at a level of excellence that basketball fans had never seen before in Arizona…Sonny Pena has captured the heart of our nationally recognized state championship team in this collection of articles that tell the story of the mighty Vandals of 1950-51. As I read these articles memories of my teammates who were instrumental in this great season flood my head.”
"Readers should know that Sonny Pena’s book is more than a collection of news clippings.” says historian Christine Marin. “Instead, it is a work of love for the game of basketball and an admiration for Coach Ernie Kivisto and his “dream team”. Pena’s book captures a time and place when a copper town came together in 1950-51 for the sake of basketball and good and decent play and to marvel at a coach whose team perfected and mastered the fast break on offense and the full court press on defense. Teachers, students, parents and local civic leaders through the state of Arizona supported the Vandals and their coach. If you listen closely, you can hear their cheering and shouts of excitement throughout the pages of The Mighty Miami Vandals: a Scrapbook of the Arizona 1950-51 Miami High School Championship Basketball Team."
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