Miami Senior High | South Florida's Original Dream Team - Dope Interviews

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Dope is worth closing this plams DNA. Dope issworth closed in this plams DNA.
What's good? Everybody walks to DopeInterviews, brought to you by the
mighty nineteen media groups. I'm yourhost, Warrenshaw, and in the virtual
building today I have a very veryspecial guest. I have Hime Gutierrez.
He is the director of The Asylum, a documentary featuring about the historic Miami

(00:21):
Senior High School of the late eightiesand nineties. Uh, a little bit
around my time as well to kindof like so it's a little bit impersonal
to me kind of understanding what he'sdoing here with this work. The Asylum
is going to be one of thefeature films at the forty first Miami Film
Festival. Hi May, welcome toDope Interviews. My brother, nice to
meet you. No, thank you, appreciate it. Warren, thank you
for having me and thanks for youknow, shining something in the Asylum.

(00:45):
Listen that thanks, you know,you know, thank me for anything,
because again you did the work right. And I want to say congratulations to
you, you know, on agreat project. And I'm sure you've been
asked this before, but we gotto start here. At the beginning,
as we always doing dope interviews,tell me a little bit about what inspired
you to tell this story in general. Well, what inspired me was obviously
I was born and raised in Miami. I played basketball during that time as

(01:06):
well, so I actually got achance an opportunity to play basketball against one
of those teams, you know,that's part of the documentary. And no,
you know, just the inspiration came, you know, mostly from you
know, my my background, whichobviously is media, you know, television,
sports, and just telling a goodstory for Miami. That story had

(01:29):
been you know, hadn't been toldin the past twenty twenty five years that
had happened obviously, it was youknow, some things that occurred during that
time. And yeah, I wantedto shed light, I guess on how
the other side of the spectrum ofwhat the players had to go through and
what they became after, you know, what went on at Miami Senior High

(01:51):
at the asylums as the basketball gymis called. I mean, what was
it, like, I guess gettingarchival footage. So I've been talking to
a lot of different filmmaker documentary threepeople and so forth and so forth,
and again that seems to be likeone of the hardest things, especially getting
stuff from that time or it wasn'tsuch a digital age. So what was
that process like gathering that footage anddid you find people actually had that stuff
We're able to help you kind ofput it together and doing all the editing

(02:15):
and stuff like that. Yeah,So I think two pieces to question.
One is, you know, obviously, when I thought of the idea,
I'm like, all right, wheream I going to get all this this
footage from? Because, like yousaid, at the time, there's no
social media, no Instagram, noneof that. So I'm okay, you
know, there has to be somethingor some you know kind of place where
they house old footage, you know, because obviously I've seen documentaries in the

(02:38):
past, you know, for years, and there's a footage of stuff that
occurred thirty forty years ago or twentyyears before the story is told. So
you know, I had the opportunityto basically dig up some footage at the
Miami Dade Archive and that was excellentbecause it actually was, you know,

(03:00):
very well detailed, gave me likeyear by year what I was looking for.
And then the second part of thatis, you know, going back
to actual Miami High you know,and their you know TV production on a
teacher Mark Burannick, who's actually sorry, Mark Barannick, one of the other
individuals that's air at the TV productionclass had old footage of those years,

(03:24):
and I was like, oh okay, wow, like I had never seen
somebody kind of you know, haveso much so much old footage of like
a high school. And I wasable to digitize it, and that was
I think the hardest part was youknow, digitizing it because of the cost
and stuff like that. What wasthe most expected unexpected part, you know,

(03:45):
kind of digging through those archives,you know, in terms of even
the process or maybe even some ofthe film footage actually kind of came across.
Well, I think that's a goodquestion. I mean a lot of
hidden gems of like you know kindof I guess at that time they would
shoot like family type of you knowvideos, you know, like everything from

(04:10):
a process of like getting out ofthe bus to being in the class to
like you know, warming up andstuff like that. So I think it
was more it was it was shockedmore of a way of like it was
for the family, you know,like like if you have a family video
from back in the day, soI think that was more of a like
surprise. So I was able toget like a lot of behind the scenes

(04:30):
that nowadays we kind of like doon a normal basis when we're doing some
sort of production. You know,we take photos, we take videos of
whatever. But in that time,you know, that really wasn't thought of,
you know, And actually it workedout very well, and I had
I had amazing, amazing archival footage. And then I also had another individual
who actually was a cameraman during thattime, provide a couple of tapes and

(04:55):
in that tape and one of thetapes they had, it led to actually
having Jim Valvano on one of theone of the tapes that being at the
Miami at the Gym of Miami hidat the Assignum, which that when everybody
looks at that is like oh,They're like, oh my god, would
you get that? And I waslike, well, there's one guy that
was a cameraman at that time.Yeah, that's tight. I mean,
like real talk, And I thinkyou know, when you're doing any type

(05:16):
of projects like this, there's goingto be those, as you alluded to,
hidden gems that you kind of comeacross if you will. Is there
anything that you can share with usthat and asays maybe didn't make the documentary
of the film that maybe you wishyou did, or was kind of like
that that behind the scenes look ifyou will, because it is Richie said,
is so true. We're very muchin the age. Is like the
kind of the line or storytelling isit's it's I wanna say that it's played

(05:40):
out, but that's not all thatthere is anymore. People want to know,
like, all right, what's itlife in the locker room and those
types of things. Now we haveguys like the Celtics are pre filming a
documentary if you will, if they'rebehind the scenes run they don't win the
championship. I mean, well we'llsee if that actually comes out. But
everybody wants to know the making ofthat team and kind of what's going on.
Is there anything that you found thatwas like, man, that was
I just did not know that thatyou wish that you could have added to

(06:01):
the film specifically. I mean Ithink I pretty much was able to add
almost everything I wanted, you know, Like I said, there was like
a lot of like behind the scenesso in the in the film, and
you know, when you get tosee it, there's actually a lot of
locker room talk, you know,like speeches you know, from from Shaky

(06:26):
and from Frank or who are thetwo main head coaches of those runs?
And again, like to your toyour earlier question, like, man,
I didn't think. I didn't thinkI was gonna get that. Like I
was like, oh, I'm gonnaget a bunch of highlights, you know,
the guys dunking, you know,making three pointers, celebrating. But
then, like I said, whenI opened up that archive of footage and
had actually had speeches of them talking, you know, motivating the team that

(06:50):
I think, to further add toa couple of questions you've asked, I
think that helped me enhance the storybecause it actually helped me tell what I
wanted to tell, which was theseguys weren't just coaches. These guys were
more like father figures. They weremore like you know, teaching men,
teaching boys how to become men,you know. And I think obviously the

(07:13):
impact that it created, you know, with their lives down the line,
you know, which obviously holds truenow. And that's why you know,
some of the biggest names from thattime like you Donna's Handslam, Stephen Blake
Brett, right, you know,Silvan Robinson, they hold dear, you
know, Beaufort, they hold deartheir coaches, you know, to what

(07:33):
they did and taught them during thattime. I mean, I think that's
a great point, right, Likeyou can go into it with some semblance
of an idea of like I kindof wanted to go this way, but
then the story kind of can changeas a result as you're uncovering things or
as you're talking to people doing interviews, and it's like, hey, you
know what, this adds another levelor a layer to this, to this,
to this film and documentary. Ithink that aspect even stuff was shaky,

(07:57):
like at the awards banquets, youknow, and those types of things,
and I'm like, it just addedso much context, I think to
the overall story that was being toldhere in the asylum. One thing about
it and I heard you mentioned itas well too. You know, you're
from the Miami area and this documentaryis very very Miami, right like,
and I think you know, andI applaud you for that. I think
if you've grown up in the SouthFlorida area, you can be like damn.

(08:18):
You can really see what was goingon in that. But it also
brought me to another aspect of youknow, I've lived in the area for
a very long time as well,and Miami's had some very dominant runs at
various levels, right from UM obviouslyto the Lebron Heat, but even before
that, you know, a waythat their championship you will to the Marlins
have won, and then this MiamiSenior High team maybe not as prevalent for

(08:41):
people's understanding of Miami in terms ofits overall culture, but in Miami it
was a really really huge and bigdeal and there was a lot of hate.
And that's what it says, likeI've seen people hate on the U,
I've seen people hate on on theHeat, and then watching your documentary,
there was national hate for Miami SeniorHigh. Talk us a little bit
about that cultural experience that that Miamihad, Mimmy High had at that time

(09:03):
and its impact on on on theSouth Farder region. Now, well,
like you said, if you seethe documentary, like at that time,
you know, the Heat had juststarted, the Miami he had just started,
and you know, they were fillingthe gym, their gym, you
know, their arena with more peoplethan an actual NBA team, you know,
like you said. At that time, also football was very dominant,

(09:26):
I mean high school, not justhigh school, but even college, you
know, and the Dolphins too,you know, they were all it was
a football town. And to havethis little, small public high school kind
of be dominant as they were wasvery you know, shocking to a lot
of people to say at least.And then the national attention came right when
they played you know, Saint Anthony's, you know, when they were on

(09:50):
ESPN. So they were like,who's this little high school from you know,
little Havana, Miami. You knowthat's a public high school, you
know, because that's another thing.So it was a public high school.
That's being so dumbant, and thatI think, you know, field the
community to like rally or you know, behind the school, rally, behind
their players, their coaches, Andagain I go back to I think that

(10:11):
the coaches just we're authentic and genuinewith the kids. So when you're authentic
and genuine, I think everything elsefalls in place. And they just wanted
to, you know, see thekids succeed. You know, obviously there's
things that you go through. Youknow, situations, you know, everything
else, but I think you know, when your attentions are pure, and
they just really wanted to see thekids, you know, get out per

(10:33):
se. You know, you know, people get jealous, people get envious,
people hate, you know, andthey have a problem with that because
you know, with success comes youknow, a couple of couple of haters
there. So yeah, I thinkthat's very well said. And again I
do applaud the aspect of the storytellingbecause all the players there talk about how

(10:54):
much the coach has impacted them,and maybe not always love at first sight
for some of the players, youknow, reflecting they realized, hey,
they needed that that level of ofof hard coaching, especially I think in
the Frank days even probably more so, but then they realized how much that
was important. You can talk alittle bit about, you know, that
aspect of talking to some of thoseplayers and the love that they developed for

(11:16):
for Frank and Shakey specifically obviously youd u d and kind of the latter
part of that of that situation,but just how instrumental were Shaky and Frank
and and and and shaping what MiamiSenior High was. Yeah. No,
so again going back I'll start withShaky, you know, I mean he
had the Edwards brothers, you know, which if some people may or may
not know, I mean there werethree sets of brothers. You know,

(11:37):
Doug, Adden and Steve all wentto Division one you know, college played
Division one level. Obviously, DougEdwards, who was the oldest brother in
eighty nine was the number two rankedplayer in the nation, only behind Kenny
Anderson. You know, he wasactually ahead of shaquille' neil at one point
or finished. So the the impactthat those coaches have on these kids from

(12:01):
from the hood, you know,to start off like Shaky from with with
the Edward brothers was was you know, I mean it was you can't match.
You know. He also had youknow, other players like PJ.
Brown. When I spoke to him, you know, they looked at him
as a father figure, you know, like somebody they could go to,
you know, like you said,moving on to to the Frank era,
you know, you have the guyswho went to University of Florida, you

(12:22):
know, like you know, Dona'sand Brent. You know, they looked
at him like the reason they werethere and the reason they were able to
be successful in life was because ofFrank, you know, because of not
being the you know, tough love. It was all tough love. It
was. It was something that Frankyou know, pushed and and and always
spoke about. But they became whothey were, you know, and even

(12:45):
guys like you know, Steve Blake, who you know played for him one
year. You know, they lookback during their time in the NBA and
they're like, you know, ifyou know, Frank was Frank was the
guy that you know, helped merealize like, you gotta you could be
here, but you gotta go.You gotta be here to be able to
reach your next goal, your nextyou know, endeavor. So I mean
countless stories of all the players issaying and giving thanks to Shakey and Frank

(13:09):
and how they they talked to himagain like to go from being boys and
then one of the things that we'vealready kind of touched on. But it's
really interesting because to think, forme, your perspective said, you got
to play against one of those teams, right, So in the moment,
did you think they were cheating?No? I mean, look, to
be honest with you, everybody wantedto play for Miami High. I wanted

(13:31):
to play for Miami High. I'mnot gonna lie. I want to play,
but I knew I couldn't play forMiami High because I mean they're there.
Their guy on the bench, youknow, was like six' four,
you know, so it was notgoing to be possible for me to
play. But if you spoke toanybody at that time, I mean who
played you know, hoops in SouthFlorida, They wanted to play for Remy

(13:52):
High. Mean, you know RajaBell, who's who's in the documentary as
well, he played high school basketballhere. He even said he's like,
you know, I wanted to fromyou know, Roger Bell became Raja Belt,
like you know, I mean he'sone of the best defenders, you
know, great you know NBA playerthat there was, you know. I
mean even Kobe Bryant spoke out onetime about Raja and his you know,

(14:13):
his play and his defense and howyou know, how well disciplined he was,
you know. And I mean guyslike that didn't even get to play
for Remiy High. But yet yousee guys like that wanting to play for
Miami High. So it wasn't athing about you know, cheating that.
I think it was more about likelike in the documentary, Frank said,
you know, do you send yourkids or do you send someone to a

(14:35):
place to fail? You No,you want to send them to a place
to succeed, you know, andMiami Hi was succeeding, and everybody wanted
to go there. Now very wellsaid I can think back to my high
school days and some of the prominentteam and then again that was just that
was the easy way out, right, Oh they're cheating and they can't be
that good. But as alluding to, you know, good players wanted to
go there because they don't a legacy, you know what I mean. I

(14:56):
think that was well well displayed.I think throughout the documentary well too,
the last couple of months before goahead, sorry. I think it's like
a culture thing, right you goto sports, like a real professional sports
team, you know, I meanyou even the pros like okay, they
want to go play for right now, let's say the Chiefs, right okay,
or the Patriots when Belichick and Bradywere it just like the Heat.
People want to come down to playfor the Heat because of a culture,

(15:18):
they win, they want to bethere. So I think at that time
it wasn't so prevalent or out inthe open as as it is now.
And I think that's the problem,that was the issue. What is the
one thing you want viewers to takeaway from watching the documentary? I know
it's been out here a little while, but again getting a nice another reboot
if you will, and feature atthe Miami Film Festival. What do you

(15:39):
want the city of Miami. It'smore specifically kind of take away from this
film. Well, first, youknow, for the younger generation, you
know, to kind of look backand see where basketball, I guess in
Miami first started. You know,I don't think that anything. I don't
think Miami was anything before Miami Highin eighty seven, eighty eighty nine,

(16:00):
you know. So I think that'sthe first thing that I think I would
like Miami to take away. Thesecond thing I would like Miami to take
away, or just the public ingeneral of the artists general is like to
always, you know, never judgea book by its cover. You know,
I think that everybody, like yousaid, oh, they're cheating or
doing this or doing that, andof course it could be true, it
could be not true, whatever.But at the end of the day,

(16:22):
again, it doesn't come from fromme saying this, it comes from the
players. You know, they wantedto be there. You know, they
wanted those guys to push them andteach them and guide them in life.
You know, their mentors to alot of those guys. So I just
want, you know, people totake away that there's a great story that
once lived. You know, MiamiHigh for that ten twelve years, was

(16:48):
one, if not the best publichigh school in all of the United States,
and it pumped out a lot ofgreat individuals, you know, not
just basketball players. You know,most someone became doctors, someone became low
some of them became you know,politicians, some of them became cops,
some of them became teaching, justa whole slew of different things that you
know, people like I said,people would look at the bad, but

(17:11):
they never looked at the good atthat time, you know, because there
wasn't a you know, there wasn'ta wait for the players like nowadays,
for everybody to tweet out or postand be like, well, that's their
side of the story. This ismy set of story that you know,
it was dominated you know by youknow the standard you know media, you
know, newspaper, television. Ithink that's extremely well said. And I

(17:33):
think the point even that you madespecifically about maybe some people went on to
play D one or wherever the casemay be, but they went on to
be good humans, good people,and you know, an impact in the
community, and that really is Ithink a lesson. I think we can
all love and learn from it froma lot of different ways. But high
school experience, especially through sports,it gives you some semblance of discipline and

(17:53):
kind of sets a foundation for youto become a better individual as well too.
So I think that's very well said. Do you have any plan time
may in essence to continue doing doingthis thing again? Obviously here in the
media space, have a great jobworking with FIBA, been at ESPN,
etcetera, et cetera. But didthis kind of like wet your appetite here
now for for future filmmaking for HamigudiEras, Yeah, it did it?

(18:15):
Did you know? I speak tothe team once in a while about certain
projects that I personally would like todo. You know, there's there's some
you know, there's some conversations hereand there that I've had with you know,
certain individuals I do for sure wantto keep in the sports space.
You know, like kind of especiallyin the basketball space since I know it
so well. But yeah, definitelywould in mind. I will say I

(18:37):
will choose and pick what I wouldlike to do, you know, like
everybody knows, and like I've toldeveryone this project. I mean, I
did this project. It was apassion project. It wasn't like, oh,
I'm going to submit it on youknow, film festival or put it
on Netflix or show Time. Itreally was just because I wanted to,
you know, do something that formyself, you know. And then obviously
little by little started taking off andeverybody wanted to be part of it and

(19:02):
support. But yeah, there's there'sthere's a couple of other projects that that
I, you know, very interestedin. I hope to speak to those
individuals soon so I could see ifif we can move forward. Well,
we can't wait. I think thiswas a great first entry and a lot
of nice and positive critical acclaim comingfrom they can't wait to see how filmgoers

(19:23):
receive it here at the forty firstAnnual Miami Film Festival. That's all the
time we have for today. Iwant to thank you so much for joining
us. Everybody be sure to catchThe Asylum at the Miami Film Festival.
Make sure you follow the film festivalat Miami Film follow my guy Hi may
at JG. Ball followed the filmat the Asylum. The Asylum film one
Instagram. You can follow me atShaw Sports, NBA or Dope Underscorts interview.

(19:45):
Uh, that's that'll do it here, Man, thanks so much for
joining us. You know what itis been an adope interview. He is
Haimy Gutiers. Make sure you checkthe Asylum. Come, we're out.
Appreciate it. Man, Together westand the Biogman never the lesion is one
striving the better, working as ateam, working toward a dream. It's
not even work when the team isthe dream. When the United Front,

(20:07):
we got a home in the back, a band of brothers to counteract.
Then he asip one heart in fact, forget what the blood say. Dope
it's worth flows in his Stam's DNA. So let's do it for the love,
give to the max. Listen toan opinion, but react to facts
and remember that together with a ship, but separate just pieces of it.
Shooting dope it's worth closed in hisStam's DNA. Dope is worth closed in

(20:34):
his Stam's DNA. Family represent likea tree with names on it. We're
free, no change on it.Relieve the pain's gone out, and see
we come together like questions on thequiz motor flowing viz man, you know
what it is. And if ignoranceis blisity, gonna hate this lesson organize
them the like a tropical depression.My simplest across some mic and ghost peaples

(20:59):
because I'm just a black shoes growingup to be a shepherd, moon lightened
as a weapon to protect the children. Every brother is a father. Dynasties
were building Max J and k Babayand not Sai next level of the family foundation understanding

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Miami Senior High | South Florida's Original Dream Team

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