Like many kids his age, 4-year-old Carter Steele made his football debut this August playing in the Key West Junior Football League in Key West. While this is unexceptional at face value, it is notable that he made his athletic debut on George Mira Sr. Field. Little Carter just happens to be the great-great-grand-nephew of Key West’s own George Mira Sr., University of Miami’s fabled quarterback who went on to win three Super Bowls in his eight seasons in the NFL. While he does not yet know it, Carter belongs to Key West royalty, a member of a family with a deep athletic history that spans much farther than the bridges of the Keys. The name Mira is synonymous with South Florida football greats, particularly quarterbacks, which is why I did a double-take when Key West High School football coach Johnny Hughes first sent me the Conchs’ ’22-’23 football roster.
Number 8, listed at QB, was junior Adrian Mira. I knew instantly that Key West was in for some big home gates this season.
Key West is a town steeped in pride, tradition and community. Conch Pride is something that cannot be explained; it must be experienced. If you have ever been in the stands during a home football game in Key West while the band is playing the Alma Mater, you likely felt it. The entire island embraces its teams to create an atmosphere that is indescribable. The pride displayed by Key West fans is palpable, and regardless of wins or losses, they remain steadfast in support of their own. And even if every fan packed into the stadium is not directly related to the Miras, though a fairly large number are, they still claim George Mira as theirs.
A Key West native, born to a stay-at-home mother and a foreman at the local plant that provided Key West’s fishing and shrimping fleets with ice, George grew up in the Southernmost City playing baseball, basketball and football. He excelled in all three and also, I am told, plays a decent round of golf. Mira led the Conchs to state championships in baseball in 1958 and 1959 as their star pitcher. His deadly accuracy and zip earned him an incredible 31-2 record as a starter, first state team honors and a major league offer with the Orioles, but it was the gridiron where Mira made himself a legend.
How did an unassuming kid from tiny Key West become larger than life? The answer is woven into the fabric of multigenerational Conch families, including the Miras. It is not elusive or magical in any way. It is work – lots of hard, focused, purpose-driven work. It was that work which led not only Mira to his storied fame, but a disproportionate multitude of Conch athletes who have represented Key West in college and major league sports. Mira played on the same baseball team as John “Boog” Powell, who played in Major League Baseball for 17 years, winning the American League MVP award in 1970; and Richie Garcia, arguably one of the greatest MLB umpires in the history of the game with 24 years and four World Series under his belt. Three athletes starring in the pros hailing from the same little island a hundred miles from anywhere with about 6,000 telephones and no social media or internet is incredible.
Excited by the Mira connection on this year’s roster, I contacted a few of the many notable Miras in Key West, all of whom directed me to their unofficial spokesperson, Yvette Mira Talbott. Ironically, I first met Talbott, George Sr.’s niece, at George Mira Sr. Field.
Obviously, the family is thrilled to have another Mira taking snaps for the Conchs. Adrian is the fourth Mira to play the position, following behind George Sr. himself; George’s older brother James “Jimmy” Mira, Yvette’s father and long-time Key West Commissioner; and George’s younger brother Joe, who still coaches in Miami. George Mira Jr. was also a standout linebacker at University of Miami during its fabled “bad-boy” years. Key West has waited more than half a century for another great quarterback, and junior Adrian is on his way to making history of his own with Key West.
In his first start for the Conchs, there were flashes of the quick feet synonymous with a Mira QB. Built sturdier and more compact than his great-uncle, Adrian Mira runs the ball more like a bull than a matador, the moniker given to George Sr. for his capacity to scramble and his striking appearance. Coach Hughes describes him as a “tough kid with a good football IQ” and says that given more experience, he could be something special. Currently sidelined with an injury, Conch fans are going to have to wait to see just how special he can be, and whether he can fill the enormous shoes of his famous relatives.
I asked Talbott if she remembered anything special about her uncle. Aside from his feet – which, even as a grandfather, were fast and showed glimpses of The Matador – she explained that it was more than talent that drove the brothers, George Jr. and now the next generation of Miras to the top in football. Without hesitation, she offered the Mira family secret: “Hard work. No matter what you do, work hard. We always believed that was most important.”
It’s that humble, hard-working, salt-of-the-earth attitude that people can get behind, and in the 1960s everybody was behind George Mira Sr., including, according to Mira’s niece, the future Governor of Florida, Daniel Robert “Bobby” Graham. A self-professed “political fan,” Yvette Mira Talbott recalled waiting for a fight with her uncle years later when a man tapped George on the shoulder. Talbott immediately recognized him as the current governor.
“All his protection was around him and he goes, ‘George, it’s me, Bobby. Bobby G.’” she said. Mira Sr. casually described the connection between the two to his niece, nonchalantly explaining that when he was still at the University of Miami and not yet able to afford a car of his own, he would have to take the Greyhound bus home each weekend to visit his family and girlfriend in Key West. Graham’s father would lend Mira a car to drive in exchange for letting Bobby into the locker room.
Though Mira brushed elbows with the rich, powerful and famous, he chose to remain in South Florida with his family, brushing elbows with the hardworking people of Key West. The Miras carved out their niche in the southernmost island long before it became the metropolitan tourist mecca it is today. George Mira’s Pizza Huddle was the place to eat after games and meet with the community when the K-Mart plaza was still wild mangroves. The restaurant sat on the Kennedy Drive property that is now Southernmost Credit Union. Orion Bank was the parking lot. The entire Mira family worked at the restaurant in some form or another, and in addition to getting arguably the best hand-tossed pizza on the island, patrons could talk city business with Jimmy or take in George’s memorabilia that adorned the walls. There was a second location in Miami as well, giving locals a chance to catch a glimpse of Miami’s Matador. Old friends, football fans and anyone bold enough to strike up a conversation with him would often be rewarded with in-depth discussions about games and plays. Mira put on no airs, further fueling the love Key West had for the man who, along with Powell, Garcia, and a few others, gave the Southernmost City another claim to fame beyond fishing and tourism.
After “retiring” in his thirties, George Sr. continued to work at, or at least “hold court” at, the Pizza Huddle and played a lot of golf, oftentimes at celebrity tournaments. A man with the work ethic of an old-school Conch did not adjust well to the pace of a normal job, so he started making conch fritters. Unlike the family’s recipe for success, there IS a secret recipe for Mira’s Native Conch Fritters. Using his mother’s recipe, George began making and selling conch fritters at fairs and festivals. The business grew and did well, and soon enough, the Mira name became synonymous with football, pizza, celebrity golf tournaments and the best conch fritters you’ve ever tried.
George took his recipe on the road, bringing along his son Jason to help. The wagon, painted vibrantly in unmistakable pink with “Native Conch” emblazoned across the side, was open for business at events across South Florida, serving conch salad and fritters to unsuspecting foodies and plenty of fans hoping to meet George. They’re still available at a few local restaurants in the Keys and Miami, and once you have a George Mira conch fritter, the rest will leave you disappointed. His niece explained that Mira opened the stand ”for something to do,” and while Jason manned the fritters, George Sr. enjoyed talking football to anyone who cared to discuss it with him.
Prior to the pandemic, Mira Sr. traveled to the Keys almost weekly, visiting friends and family in his beloved Key West. Now 80 years old and taking it as easy as a Mira dares, George Sr. has three Super Bowl rings, a Sports Illustrated cover, two Heisman nods and a trove of photographs featuring himself with other football greats, political legends and even the Rat Pack. But these are not his legacy nor his greatest pride. Like every single Mira I have met, he treasures one thing above all else: family.
