LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Fernando Mendoza didn’t so much win the Heisman Trophy as compose it. He didn’t take college football by storm. He read it like scripture, flipped it like a textbook, prayed over it like a rosary.
And Saturday night in New York, under the chandeliered glow of Jazz at Lincoln Center, the quarterback from Miami — by way of Berkeley, by way of Bloomington, by way of his mother’s heart — became the first Indiana player to take home the most famous stiff-arm this side of the Sistine Chapel.
Mendoza was awarded the Heisman Trophy among teammates and coach, family, friends and fans.
He is Indiana’s introspective leader with the golden arm, the player who once dreamed of nothing more audacious than getting invited to this room. But when his name was called, ahead of every other name, he stood not just at the top of the ballot, but the top his sport.
"If you told me, a kid from Miami, that I'd be here on stage holding this prestigious trophy, I would have laughed, cried like I'm doing now, or both," Mendoza said, opening his acceptance speech. "This moment is an honor, it's bigger than me. It's a product of a family, team, community and whole lot of people who believed in me long before anybody knew my name.
He thanked everyone, but no one more eloquently than his mother, Elsa, who sat nearby, smiling through tears.
Elsa Mendoza once described herself as Fernando’s “first teammate.” This week, she wrote a letter for The Players’ Tribune that chronicled their bond — winters in Boston, youth football fields, and the long, quiet fight she has waged for nearly two decades against multiple sclerosis.
“You’ve never once looked away,” she wrote. “You’ve made me feel seen.”
Mendoza said the letter left him “bawling” when he read it.
"Mami, this is your trophy as much as it is mine," Mendoza said. "You've always been my biggest fan, you're my light, you're my why and biggest supporter. Courage, love, those have been my first playbook and the playbook that I carry at my side through my entire life. You tell me toughness doesn't need to be loud, it can be quiet and strong, it's choosing hope, it's believing in yourself when the world doesn't give you much reason to. Together, you and I, are defying what people think is possible."
A season for the ages
The Heisman caps a season that Indiana fans will be telling their grandchildren about, whether the grandchildren believe it or not.
Mendoza arrived as a transfer from Cal, earned the starting job, and promptly led the Hoosiers to a 13–0 record, a Big Ten championship, and the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff. Indiana football used to measure history in inches. This season, it measured it in wins.
Mendoza threw for 2,980 yards, completed 71.5 percent of his passes — sixth-best in the nation — with 33 touchdown throws and only six interceptions. He added six rushing scores, too, and did much of his damage efficiently enough that he often spent fourth quarters wearing a baseball cap instead of shoulder pads.
Heisman moments? He had them alphabetized.
There was the 63–10 demolition of Illinois that announced Indiana’s arrival. The poised comeback at Iowa. The signature victory over undefeated Oregon. And finally, the Big Ten Championship Game, when he engineered a late scoring drive and delivered a huge completion against No. 1 Ohio State, the kind of throw that looks simple until you realize it wasn’t.
He was always there, with the right play at the right time, and then the right words afterward. His brilliance was quiet. His confidence steady. Indiana didn’t wobble. And when the season ended, Mendoza stood alone as the best player in college football.
But on Saturday, he spike to his teammates, saying the trophy began to them all.
"To all my teammates, my brothers — this is our trophy," he said. "I love you guys more than you know. To my linemen who protected me, every single receiver and tight end that bailed me out, to every running back who fought for more yards and to our defense that gave us that heart, swagger and more second-chances than we definitely deserved, this trophy might have my name on it, but it belongs to all of you."
The heart behind the helmet
Statistics earn votes. But spirit earns belief.
Mendoza’s emotional core — shaped by faith, patience, and a long road through football’s margins — defined how he led. He never pretended the platform was just about football.
“I believe it’s the reason God put me here,” Mendoza said this season. “To help others.”
That belief took tangible form. As his Heisman profile rose, Mendoza helped raise nearly $30,000 for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, inspired by his mother’s ongoing battle with the disease. Elsa Mendoza was diagnosed nearly 18 years ago. She walks with a limp now. She uses a crutch. There has been pain.
There has also been resilience.
Fernando Mendoza never looked away.
When asked what winning the Heisman would mean, he didn’t point to himself. He pointed back to Indiana. And back to his family.
“It means so much for the fanbase who stuck through the thick and thin,” he said. “Really, just to have it there for my teammates, the Hoosier community, and all the alumni.”
This was never about a shelf. It was about a home.
“I known who I am"
This wasn’t a coronation. It was a culmination.
Mendoza was once QB4 on his youth team. Not the backup, not the understudy, but the kid waiting patiently at the end of the line. He was a two-star recruit who almost played Ivy League football. He camped at 17 schools for a Power Five chance. He left a beloved high school to find a pro-style offense. He transferred from Cal to Indiana with one shot left and no guarantees attached.
He didn’t complain. He committed.
He prayed for a path. And then he paved one.
“He has a sense of self,” his mother wrote, “that has always shined through. Even as a little boy.”
That boy grew up, to become the quarterback who lifted Indiana football into history.
Everyone will remember the image of him on the Heisman stage tonight. But the truest images are elsewhere. Of the hours in the video room. Or helping his mother. Or head in the huddle, big third down ahead, calling the play and executing it to the letter.
"I want every kid out there who feels overlooked and underestimated, I was you," Mendoza said. "I was that kid too, I was in your shoes. The truth is, you don't need the most stars, hype or rankings, you just need discipline, heart and people who believe in you and your own abilities. I hope this moment shows you that chasing your dreams are worth it no matter how big or impossible they seem."
Indiana will get its own copy of the Heisman Trophy. So they’ll have one in Bloomington, and perhaps he'll leave his trophy with his parents. Wherever it is, it’ll be a place of honor.
But the journey that earned it was never about where the trophy on the shelf.
It was about knowing who you are, and becoming it.
More Fernando Mendoza Coverage:
CRAWFORD | Sleepless in Bloomington: Fernando Mendoza’s Heisman moment is here
CRAWFORD | Hit, hurt, heroic: Mendoza, Indiana knock out Ohio State to win Big Ten title
Coffee with Crawford | The Mind of Mendoza: Lessons from Indiana's introspective leader
CRAWFORD | Fernando Mendoza set for home finale, and Indiana's final ascent
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