2,836-Person Family Rallies for QB's Miami Homecoming

When Fernando Mendoza V takes the field Monday night for the college football national championship, he'll have more hometown fans than most quarterbacks could dream of. His family tree includes 2,836 direct descendants, and over 100 of them packed a Miami alley Saturday night to rally for family member No. 314111.

The Mendoza family keeps detailed records of every relative, assigning each person a number that tells their story through generations. Fernando V earned his spot as No. 314111, tracing back through five Fernandos to the family's Cuban founders, Don Claudio Gonzalez de Mendo and Dona Maria Teresa Feyre de Andrade.

Their last official reunion in 2022 drew 850 relatives wearing color-coded shirts representing 12 family branches. The gathering made the front page of the Miami Herald and filled an entire venue with Mendozas celebrating their shared history.

This week's impromptu meetup featured Fernando's grandmother Marta as the guest of honor, since both her grandsons (Fernando and backup quarterback Alberto) were at team practice. Younger cousins tossed a red Indiana football between picnic tables while family members hugged, laughed, and swapped stories about the quarterback who put their family number on a national stage.

The game carries extra meaning because it's happening at the University of Miami's home stadium, just three miles from where Fernando's father played high school football. Fernando IV was teammates with current Miami head coach Mario Cristobal at Christopher Columbus High School, the same school where Fernando V and Alberto later won back-to-back state championships.

Why This Inspires

Fernando's Heisman Trophy acceptance speech revealed what drives him. He thanked his maternal grandparents in Spanish, honoring Alberto and Alicia Espinoza who fled Cuba as children during the Castro revolution.

In 2019, the Espinozas took teenage Fernando and Alberto back to Cuba on a church relief trip. The boys walked through Santiago, hiked the Sierra Maestra mountains, and stood in the homes their grandparents left behind as kids.

"When you see it for yourself, when you stand there in it, it changes you," Fernando explained. Alberto got emotional remembering the trip, seeing the beauty beneath the decay and understanding why his family works so hard to preserve their history.

That history lesson transformed how both brothers see themselves. Now, as Fernando prepares to play for a national title in the city where his family built their American dream, he carries the hopes of 2,836 relatives who know exactly where they came from and how far they've traveled.

Monday night in Miami isn't just a football game for the Mendozas; it's a celebration of family, heritage, and the journey from Cuba to the championship.