Palm Beach Lakes high school girls basketball coach Cassandra Rahming walked into the auditorium unsuspecting on Tuesday.
The band played and cheerleaders were pumped up as she walked through a line of kids finally realizing she wasn’t part of secret.
“To have something like this happen today and I’ve been like what’s going on,” she said. “People have been like not trying to drop little subtle hints about something but being quiet at the same time, so it was like overwhelming.”
Rahming was inducted into the Palm Beach County Sports Hall of Famean accomplishment so many are celebrating.
After staring on the court, Rahming’s journey ultimately brought her to Boca Raton and ultimately Palm Beach Lakes. Twenty-six years and 525 wins later, the coach is being celebrated.
Her impact goes beyond the court. A win in 2022 had Rahming at the magic number of 500 wins making her the first female and first African-American in Palm Beach County to achieve the milestone.
However, to this day, her focus is on her players.
“I try to be everything they need me to be. A lot of them come from single parent homes and they have dreams and I just try to always let them know that if you work hard, things can happen for you,” she said. “It may not happen when you want them to happen, but eventually something good will come out of it.”
On stage, one after another, the coach was thanked for her dedication and discipline all while sitting in awe.
“My grandmother used to say it all the time and it means more now, ‘It’s a poor frog that won’t praise their own pond,'” Principal Rosalind Gray McCray said. “So, this is our pond and coach Rahming is in our pond, so that’s why we’re celebrating her today.”
It’s players like Myla Jones who touch her heart.
“She loves to have a good time, like we have fun at practice, but we also get work done,” Jones said.