In 1959, a revolution changed Cuba. Within three years, the majority of Cuba’s professional class, business owners, and educated elite had left. Most of them went to Miami. Fernando Mendoza’s grandparents were among them. All four left Cuba after the revolution. Three came from Havana. One came from Santiago. They arrived in the United States and built something their children and grandchildren could stand on.
In December 2025, their grandson won the Heisman Trophy. Near the end of his speech at Lincoln Center, he switched to Spanish, winning a fair bit of admiration. The tail end of his speech translated to: “For the love and sacrifice of my parents and grandparents, I love you. With all my heart, I thank you.”
A Cuban-American quarterback at the Heisman podium, thanking the people who left everything in 1959. That is the story most of the football world did not fully register.
Fernando Mendoza’s Cuban Heritage
Mendoza has not avoided the subject.
“All my grandparents were born and raised in Cuba, three in Havana, one in Santiago, and so I’m extremely grateful for all the hardship that they’ve been through, coming over, and the whole part of being an immigrant, starting from the ground up and really laying a foundation.”
His grandfather Alberto Espinoza served as the family historian, the keeper of the stories of how they got out and where they came from. The Mendoza paternal line traces back to Spain before Cuba. In high school, Mendoza and his brother Alberto traveled with family to Cuba to see where they came from.
“Alberto and I play football not for ourselves, not for fulfillment and satisfaction of ourselves, we have a lot of whys,” Mendoza has gone on record saying. “One of the whys is our mom. Another why is our entire family. Our entire family comes from a Cuban background. All of our grandparents were born and raised in Cuba, and that’s something we always take deeply to heart.”
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Mendoza grew up in Miami and attended Christopher Columbus High School, a Marist Catholic all-boys institution in the Westchester neighborhood. The school was founded in 1958, one year before the revolution that sent his grandparents to Florida. His father, Fernando Sr., went to Columbus too, class of 1988, alongside Mario Cristobal.
For families whose grandparents rebuilt their lives in Miami after 1959, schools like Columbus are where the exile generation embedded its values into institutions.
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Jim Plunkett won the Heisman Trophy in 1970 and was of Mexican-American heritage, the first Latino player ever to win the award. Bryce Young won it in 2021. Mendoza is the third Latino winner, and the first of Cuban descent. He will also be the first Cuban-American quarterback ever selected first overall in NFL Draft history.
The history of Latino and Hispanic quarterbacks in the first round is a short list. Mark Sanchez went fifth overall to the Jets in 2009. Plunkett went first overall in 1971. The position that defines the sport has been largely inaccessible to players from communities that make up a significant portion of the country’s population, and the 2026 NFL Draft on Thursday night in Pittsburgh is going to change that.
Fernando Mendoza’s 2025 Indiana Season
Mendoza threw 41 touchdowns with six interceptions in 2025 for Indiana, leading the FBS in passing touchdowns and in QBR at 90.3. He completed 72% of his passes. Indiana finished 16-0 and won the College Football Playoff National Championship over Miami in the title game.
He did all of this for a program that was not on the national map when he committed. Indiana had not won a Big Ten title since 1967. After three years at Cal, he transferred to Bloomington in December 2024, when Indiana was not a destination anyone in the national portal conversation was watching.
His brother Alberto played with him at Indiana and entered the transfer portal after the national championship, signing with Georgia Tech. The Mendoza brothers, both quarterbacks, now spread from the Big Ten to the ACC.
Mendoza announced he will not attend the draft in Pittsburgh. He will watch from Miami with his family, including his mother Elsa, who has lived with multiple sclerosis for nearly two decades. Her condition progressed into wheelchair use during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Elsa played tennis at the University of Miami. Mendoza credits her as his inspiration. “I see her fighting every single day, and with a smile on her face, so there’s no excuse for me to have a bad day.”
Mendoza has been direct about what he hopes his visibility means. “I want every kid out there who feels overlooked and underestimated,” he said in his Heisman speech. “I was you. I hope this moment shows you that chasing your dreams is worth it, no matter how big or impossible it seems.”
Thursday night in Pittsburgh, the commissioner will call his name first. In Miami, the family that started over in 1959 will be together to hear it.
