Happy Wednesday! When Super Bowls or National Championships take place, it gives us almost an unlimited number of storylines. Today, I’d like to talk about Mendoza. Not Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza, but instead his mother, Elsa Mendoza! An inspiration for us all!

So much out there right now on the Hoosiers, Curt Cignetti, Fernando Mendoza, “the greatest turnaround in College Football history”. There’s a lot floating around. Let’s talk about Mendoza…but I’m talking about Elsa Mendoza and Fernando Mendoza Sr.

The storylines surrounding this National Championship game were impossible to ignore.

‘Is Curt Cignetti really about to rewrite the script on what it means to change a program in just 2 years?’

‘Can Miami continue their run against their toughest opponent yet?’

‘The College Football Playoff expansion is a massive success because of this run by Miami!’

Everything under the sun. You can find pages upon pages written about it all, and all for good reason. This was set up to be a great National Championship on the home turf of the Canes in Miami. But to me, what stole the show was the panning to Fernando Mendoza’s parents, Elsa and Fernando Sr.

In his Heisman speech, he talked about his mom at length and how she inspires him every single day.

Athletics were at the center of Elsa Mendoza’s life growing up. It brought her all the way to becoming a D1 Tennis player at the University of Miami. Long after her collegiate tennis career was over, and she had her family and her young boys, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2007. MS is a nervous system disease that has led Elsa to be wheelchair-bound for the last 5 years.

The full use of her body may have been taken, but her spirit remains untouched. Her heart as full as ever. In December, before the Heisman Trophy ceremony, Elsa wrote a Players’ Tribune Letter to her son

Link to Letter HERE (worth looking at!!)

During the game Monday night, every time the camera panned to Fernando’s parents, his dad, Fernando Sr., was sitting right next to Elsa, and he didn’t stand for a second. In solidarity with his wife, he stays put and enjoys the game with her. This may not make the front page of the news, but this story of how strongly she cheers for her son, and the resolve she has shown every day these last 18 years since being diagnosed, it was something.

In interviews, Fernando often credits his mom as being his inspiration. He says how can I not try hard in practice, or in a game, or in a workout, when my mom is battling every single day, and doing it with the biggest smile on her face.

I’ll leave it at that. I highly recommend reading that letter above, and you watch Fernando’s Heisman speech HERE as well. It will be hard not to be a fan of the Mendoza’s as we see them in the NFL next season!

In a sea of Cignetti, Mendoza, and Hoosier articles, here’s to Elsa Mendoza; let her be an inspiration to us all!

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