Tonight, as Fernando Mendoza leads undefeated Indiana against Miami in the College Football Playoff national championship game, two white-robed Dominican priests will be among the most conspicuous fans at Hard Rock Stadium. For Father Patrick Hyde and Father Ben Keller of Saint Paul Church, it’s the culmination of a relationship that began with Sunday Mass and Friday prayer sessions—and was cemented on Christmas Eve when the Heisman Trophy winner texted with an unusual request: “Are you available? I’d like to bring over the Heisman.”
When Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza won the Heisman Trophy in December, he didn’t celebrate exclusively with teammates or retreat to the comfort of family. On Christmas Eve, he texted Father Patrick Hyde of Saint Paul Church on the Indiana University campus with an unusual request:
Are you available? I’d like to bring over the Heisman.
“When someone offers to bring the Heisman Trophy by,” Hyde recalls, “you clear the schedule.”
For Hyde and fellow priest Father Ben Keller, the visit wasn’t just a courtesy—it was a testament to the genuine relationship they’d built with the star quarterback who would lead the Hoosiers to a perfect 15-0 season and tonight’s College Football Playoff national championship game against Miami at Hard Rock Stadium.
“It’s not like he would have been marked absent,” Hyde says. “No one would have thought twice if he didn’t. But he wanted to share something special with the priests who had blessed him.”
From Sunday Mass to Game Day
Mendoza became a Saint Paul parishioner after enrolling at Indiana last winter and quickly immersed himself in the parish community. He and teammate Charlie Becker attend Mass together, came in for prayer sessions on Fridays before home games, and went to breakfast with Father Keller.
“The only reason I’ve gotten to this point is because there’s so many different people helping me in my journey, and [the Saint Paul priests] have been one,” Mendoza says. “They’ve done so much to help me, whether it’s confession or just to be able to talk or just Mass every Sunday. So I really give a lot that I have accomplished this season to the Lord, and we give thanks to God.”
The relationship has become so close that Hyde and Keller have been on tour with the Hoosiers throughout the postseason—from the Big Ten championship game to the Rose Bowl to the Peach Bowl to tonight’s finale. They’re the most conspicuous fans in every stadium, wearing their white Dominican habits, just two more members of the exponentially growing Fernando Mendoza Fan Club.
A Different Kind of Role Model
Mendoza’s earnest, articulate wholesomeness has been as captivating as his quarterback play. The more America gets to know him, the more it swoons over him.
He’s smart, graduating with a business degree from Cal in three years. He’s unfailingly polite—teammates struggle to find faults, settling on the minor sin of leaving delivery boxes in the living room. His passionate, emotional Heisman acceptance speech included mentions of his Cuban heritage and a tearful ode to his mother, Elsa, who has multiple sclerosis.
He’s so popular that even one prominent Miami fan questioned her loyalties. Lourdes Le Batard, the Cuban-born mother of broadcast personality Dan Le Batard, said on The Dan Le Batard Show that she was rooting for the hometown kid (Mendoza) over the hometown team (the Hurricanes).
“I want Miami to win,” Lourdes clarified. “But I want Fernando to do well. He’s a polite person. He has feelings. He’s a great person for children to look up to—we haven’t had many of those lately. He’s humble. He’s the biggest thing in his sport and he never says, ‘I’m so great.'”
