Local college athletes from St. Thomas and Florida Memorial earn invites to Super Bowl
Sixth row, section 312 — that’s where Nick Izquierdo sat on one of the most memorable nights of his life.
An estimated 99.9 million people watched this year’s Super Bowl, but Izquierdo — a St. Thomas University baseball player — was one of the lucky ones who was able to be there in person at Hard Rock Stadium.
“There were Kansas City Chiefs fans to the left of me and San Francisco 49ers fans to my right,” Izquierdo said of his corner end-zone seat. “There was a lot of excitement on every play. … It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Izquierdo, the vice president of STU’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, earned that opportunity as a guest of RISE, a program started by Dolphins owner Stephen Ross in an effort to champion social justice and improve race relations.
The other guests for the Super Bowl as part of RISE — which stands for Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality — were North Miami Police Chief Larry Juriga; Florida Memorial University volleyball player Yulianna Charris; and Hollywood Hills High football player Josiah Marcelin.
Charris, a 21-year-old Venezuela native who is set to graduate from FMU in May, was blown away by her Super Bowl experience.
“I kept saying that my eyes have been blessed,” Charris said. “It was amazing, and to see Hispanics like Shakira and Jennifer Lopez in the halftime show was a plus.”
Charris, who has a 4.0 grade-point average and is majoring in finance, said her experience with RISE has taught her a lot.
“I’ve always tried to be a person who does not stereotype,” she said. “I try to take the opportunity to know what each individual person is all about. Being part of RISE leadership programs has given me more knowledge and different perspectives about other cultures, and that creates more empathy.”
Izquierdo, a 22-year-old redshirt senior who plays a utility role as a part-time first baseman and DH, is pursuing his master’s degree in sports administration and has been accepted to law school at Marquette.
“I believe it’s my responsibility to use sports as a platform for positive change,” said Izquierdo, who, along with the other RISE guests, was interviewed by NFL Network at the Super Bowl. “RISE has allowed me access to different perspectives — from law enforcement to high school students and more. With those perspectives in mind, I’m hopeful RISE can continue to make a positive impact on society.”
Izquierdo, who has been playing baseball since he was a 5-year-old in the Cooper City Optimist league, will likely conclude his athletic career this year.
He is a legacy baseball player at St. Thomas, where his father (Nelson) and uncle (Sergio) both played.
Nelson, an All-American at STU, was a 40th-round pick and played two years of minor-league baseball for the Chicago White Sox. Sergio, a catcher, also played a couple of minor-league seasons for the White Sox.
Nick Izquierdo’s baseball highlight — so far at least — came last year, when STU made it to the championship game of the NAIA World Series.
STU lost, 6-2, to top-ranked Tennessee Wesleyan, and Izquierdo couldn’t help but think of that defeat once the Super Bowl had ended.
“When all the confetti came down, it made me think of last year,” Izquierdo said. “I was watching somebody else celebrate. Hopefully, we can win the championship this year.”
This story was originally published February 11, 2020 at 1:52 PM.