Rafael “Ralph” Sánchez was born in Sancti Spiritus, Cuba in 1948. In 1961, he was sent to live with his aunt and uncle in Miami before they moved to Nicaragua. In 1962, at the age of 14, Sánchez made the decision to move into the Opa-Locka camp that was run by local Catholic charities where he lived until the age of 18. Sánchez was reunited with his brother, parents, and grandmother after they came to Miami via the Freedom Flights in the mid-1960s.
After earning an accounting degree from Florida Atlantic University, he worked in real estate, becoming a land developer and motorsports promoter. He founded and managed the Grand Prix of Miami, beginning in 1983. He founded Homestead-Miami Speedway in the early 1990s.
Miami Partners for Progress was a group that was created at the end of the Boycott Miami Campaign when an agreement was signed between Boycott Miami and community and business leaders that took 16 months to negotiate. The group had a 20 point plan that included scholarships, internships, job training, and financial aid for Black students interested in pursuing careers in the tourism industry; $250,000 from the Knight Foundation for 125 scholarships for Black students; a deposit of $2.5 million into the People’s Bank of Commerce (what was Florida’s only Black-owned bank at the time); steering more supply contracts to minority-owned businesses; and pursuing financing for a Black-owned and operated premier oceanfront resort.
