Donor steps up to spruce up dilapidated Miami Central weight room

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Miami Central Senior High School has been lauded as the best of the best in athletics: its football team won its fourth state football championship in a row and was recently crowned national champions.

But despite the Rockets’ dominance on the field, some say their facilities have been the worst of the worst.

Some of the school’s alums are rushing to the rescue.

Photos of a messy weight room with dilapidated equipment hit Facebook on Monday brought an outpouring of comments.

“It’s understood (that) teachers are underpaid, they have problems with supplies in school, we get that part,” William DC Clark, with Inner City Alumni for Responsible Education, said. “But this is the 21st century and high school sports is now a billion dollar industry.”

What Clark didn’t realize when he posted was that new equipment was on the way to Miami Central and was actually installed the next day.

The school had already been working with a donor to spruce up its weight room.

For a school that puts its roster of NFL and MLB pros up front, with its growing list of national championships, the push is on to build a community of support.

“Miami-Dade County has some superior athletes, it’s well known across the country for its athletic prowess and so we think that it should get the attention that it deserves,” Clark said.

The Miami-Dade school district confirmed it has increased its budget for athletics.


About the Authors:

Glenna Milberg joined Local 10 News in September 1999 to report on South Florida's top stories and community issues. She also serves as co-host on Local 10's public affairs broadcast, "This Week in South Florida."

Chris Gothner joined the Local 10 News team in 2022 as a Digital Journalist.