Fernando Mendoza is a superstar on the field, but what is he like off the field?
In an interview after the Peach Bowl, Mendoza was asked what his fondest memories of Christopher Columbus High School were. He mentioned one of them was hanging out at Brother Herb’s.
Brother Herb has been the athletic trainer at Columbus for more than 40 years.
The student athletes love hanging out with him at the training facility, and Mendoza was a regular.
CBS News Miami’s Marybel Rodriguez visited the high school and asked Brother Herb about his fondest memories of Mendoza.
“He would come in here asking, ‘Brother, my shoulder hurts, I need stretching, I need treatment.’ We will provide the treatments, and this is where he would end up. Nice warm Jacuzzi,” said Brother Herb.
“He was an easy-going guy. Very polite, that was a good part, and he was always very grateful for what we do to him,” he said.
Mendoza was involved in “everything”
The Heisman Trophy winner graduated from Columbus in 2022, but for him, high school wasn’t all about football.
“Off the field, he was just a kid with enormous charisma. He was involved in everything, a book nerd. He loved to study. He put as much emphasis on his studies as he did into practice,” said John Lynskey, CCHS former coach.
Lynskey said Mendoza is much more than an incredible athlete.
“People just lit up around Fernando, what you see the Heisman is what you saw when he was on campus here,” said Lynskey.
A campus beaming with pride, and the Explorers want the world to know it.
“The winner is Columbus High School, the game hasn’t started. We’ve already won,” said Lynskey.
Monday night, the school is hosting a huge watch party not only on on Mendoza’s turf, but the other six other Columbus alumni, including his own brother Alberto Mendoza, are all part of the big game. This is not a school divided, it’s a school united.
