Fernando Mendoza is an odd name for a Heisman Trophy candidate college quarterback, much less one from Number One ranked Indiana, which hadn’t won the Big Ten for 58 years until last Saturday.
Fernando ended up in Bloomington via Miami and Berkeley, California. His brother Alberto was already there, also as a quarterback, and helped Fernando learn the playbook and get acquainted with the other players.
The Mendoza story is one of family and immigrant success. All four of Fernando’s grandparents came from Cuba after Fidel Castro took power in 1959 and installed a Communist regime allied with Russia under Nikita Khrushchev. Hundreds of thousands of people fled Cuba in small boats and rafts hoping to reach Florida. Many died trying.
The wonderful success of the Cuban refugees is now virtually forgotten by America as ICE chases Hispanic immigrants all over the country.
Fernando Mendoza’s dad is a pediatric emergency room doctor in Miami. His mother who he cherishes as a mentor played varsity tennis at the University of Miami but now is struggling with multiple sclerosis.
Fernando went to the appropriately named Christopher Columbus High School in Miami. He was a top student and chose to go to Cal Berkeley not just to play football but to enroll in the highly acclaimed Haas School of Business there. He received a degree from the Business School in three years and also had two good but not great years as the Golden Bears starting quarterback.
He wanted more as a football player and in business. His brother Alberto was a Redshirt Freshman quarterback at Indiana University and told him good things about the school’s new football coach Curt Cignetti, who had never had a losing season in 40 years of coaching and had turned around Indiana, always an also-ran in Big Ten football, into an 11-win season during his first year in 2024.
Alberto informed his brother that Cignetti’s methods were unorthodox. Rather than pushing his players through brutal practices during the season, most of his focus was on developing a culture of brotherhood and mentally preparing the players for every situation they might encounter on the field. During the season they do as little as six hours per week banging each other around, leaving the players fresh for Saturday games.
Although Fernando did enlist his wide receivers for informal workouts and endlessly practicing pass patterns at 6:00 in the morning.
Mendoza is a rare college football player. He and his younger brother plays for the same team. He is proud of his Cuban heritage. He has used his business skills training to negotiate with Adidas while still in college for a multimillion dollar shoe and apparel contract.
But what struck me when I saw him interviewed after Indiana beat Ohio State was his enormous enthusiasm and humility. He kept lauding his teammates and stressing the brotherhood of his Hoosier team. I kept thinking, this is a kid–no a man–who is more than a wonderful football player. He is a person who will make his mark on America.
Question: Who is your favorite quarterback?
