Aquinas star football player and North Carolina-bound running back avoided earthquake but holds memories close from his parents' native land.
By all accounts, Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) standout Giovanni Bernard had a frustrating, if not disastrous senior football season.
By all accounts except from Bernard himself.
A healthy Bernard had look of an All-American in week one.
Photo by Todd Shurtleff
The fifth-rated running back in the country according to CBS recruiting expert Tom Lemming managed a mere 45 touches due to a nagging hamstring injury that started in Week 1, when he came out like gangbusters with 112 yards rushing and two touchdowns in a nationally-televised blowout.
That turned out to be Bernard’s 2009 shining moment.
He tried to test the hamstring a few more times in game action, the last time with an eight-carry, 16-yard performance, during a 28-16 quarterfinal playoff win over Ely (Pompano Beach, Fla.).
But the following week ended much like the previous 13, with Bernard relegated to the sidelines.
Worse still, he watched helplessly as Aquinas’ 37-game win streak and chance for a second straight mythical national title went poof with a 28-20 defeat to Manatee (Bradenton, Fla.).
Bernard could have been devastated. He could have dwelled on what might have been. But Bernard doesn't think that way.
He always has memories of Haiti, a place his mother and father were both born.
“”I’ve never taken anything for granted,” he said. “Even through what seems like the hardest of times – if I fail a test or I don’t score a touchdown or I don’t rush for 100 yards – hey, I’m not starving. There’s always a reason here to keep your head up.”
Bernard had that perspective even before the devastating earthquake of Jan. 12 that turned Haiti into rubbish and took the lives of more than 200,000. Bernard could have easily been one of them.
Around New Year’s, Bernard, his father Yvens and older brother Yvenson, a running back for the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers, planned a trip to Haiti.
Yvens’ girlfriend lives in Haiti and it was going to be a surprise visit. At the last minute, the trip was cancelled.
“Lucky for us,” Bernard said. “Not for everyone else. Tragic. Absolutely tragic.”
Bernard said the rest of his small family still in Haiti was fortunate also. All have been accounted for. So has his father’s girlfriend and their 5-year-old son Sebastian, Bernard’s half-brother.
“For three days we got no word – we had no idea if our family had survived,” Bernard said. “Those were three very long days.”
The handful of Bernard family members still in Haiti are certainly not out of danger or major challenges.
“They’re trying to get out, but at this point that’s not so easy,” Bernard said. “Everyone is trying to get out.
”I’ve seen the pictures of the houses I stayed at as a youth – big mansions – complete rubble now. That’s hard to see. It’s all devastation.”
Bernard, who was born in the U.S., knows true tragedy.
His mom Josettte died from thyroid cancer when he was 10. He visited his mom’s family – many in politics and law enforcement – often as a youth but the last time was four or five years ago.
He said the flight from Miami to Haiti is only about 90 minutes, but you might as well be traveling to another planet.
The political unrest and financial ruins the country has faced the past decade made travel to his parents’ homeland nearly impossible and even dangerous.
“The first thing they see when Americans arrive is money,” he said. “You have to worry about kidnappings and ransom."
His earlier recollections of the land are much more pleasant and innocent.
“I went to camps every summer there,” he said. “I learned to swim and play tennis. It was fun. I was kind of the odd ball because I didn’t speak Creole.”
Bernard chatting before Byrnes game.
Photo by Jim Redman
He does now. And his unique perspective makes him certainly stand out from the American teen scene.
When interviewed before Aquinas’ national showdown game with Brynes in October, Bernard told us he doesn’t read the newspapers or Internet sites. He seemed oblivious to his national ranking as a high school football star or the general hype of American sport.
He’s described by teammates and coaches as laid back, easy to laugh, bright, polite and well-spoken. He enjoys life to the fullest.
“Gio is well beyond his years,” Aquinas coach George Smith said. “He’s has a fantastic personality. He’s the best of the best.”
His Haitian roots have helped him appreciate all the small stuff – small to mainstreamers anyway.
“I remember being in shock seeing how little people had (in Haiti),” he said. “The average person there is well below the poverty line here. I remember seeing how hard people had to work to make a single dollar, something we can make in a snap working at a fast-food job.
“I just remember what a struggle it was for so many there, not even knowing what or when they will eat next."
Makes a measly hamstring injury or less-than-stellar senior season seem miniscule.
It certainly hasn't kept Bernard down.
He didn’t flinch or panic when Charlie Weiss was fired at Notre Dame, the school Bernard had verbally committed. He simply found another fit at North Carolina and signed his letter of intent two weeks ago to be a Tar Heel.
“At times, that seemed a little stressful, too, picking a college,” he said. “But then you realize no matter where I go I’m getting an education for free and playing a game I love. How lucky is that?”
E-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com.
