SUPERBOY: Poly senior Jonathan Mayhew manages to star in a play, make a cameo appearance in a movie and still have time to rally school pride.
By Ashley Gore, Staff Writer
During football season you saw him hoisting the school flag high above his green and orange afro. Currently, you see him on the stage as a lead in the theater department’s winter play. Perhaps you will see him running from first to second base as an extra in a baseball-themed movie. Jonathan Mayhew (12) does it all.
By day, Mayhew excels academically. By night, he takes the stage in Poly’s production of Almost, Maine. He plays Phil, “a dad who is having marital troubles with his wife.” Audience members review the show as entertaining and a bit controversial. Mayhew encourages students, staff and parents to watch the show. Also, “there is this thing about a shoe,” Mayhew said, adding a touch of intrigue.
While Mayhew spends his winter as Phil, this past fall he went by a different name: Johnny Football. On the night of the first home football game, Mayhew’s friends decided to paint his afro Poly style. As the game progressed, he began to talk to viewers in the stands “with the occasional scream and cheer.” A friend suggested he ask Melissa Cromas to run the infamous school flag (yes, the one Poly alumnus Sky Lemesh tripped over last school year). She accepted his request, and a legend was born. “After that I saw how people really enjoyed my cheering, so I just kept going to games,” Mayhew said.
Mayhew soon became an icon of school spirit. Rowdier than a cheerleader and louder than a mascot, he embodied Poly pride at its finest. Win or lose, he yelled and cheered until sweat blurred the orange and green paint on his face. No home game was complete without Mayhew rallying the crowd. “Pretty soon families would come up to me and congratulate me on my job of cheering,” Mayhew said. One dad even gave him a shirt proclaiming his new moniker. The front exclaimed, “JOHNNY FOOTBALL” as the back encouraged, “MAKE NOISE! I DO!”
“After that I felt it was my duty to go to the games and give fans the best experience they could as a reward for coming to the game,” Mayhew said.
Mayhew’s fearlessness inspires students to make some noise of their own. He has some unique advice for anyone who wishes to break out of his or her shell. “Start by giving random compliments out of nowhere. Start acting outrageously nice to people you usually wouldn’t talk to. It’s easy to insult people behind their backs. However, being courteous makes people more open to you in general,” Mayhew said.
Adding to his long list of impressive accolades, Mayhew plays as an extra in the film 21 Outs. He may not have stolen the show like he did in Almost, Maine or the football games, but “if I had the opportunity to be another extra, I would take it. It was a great experience.”
After an exciting senior year, Mayhew plans on attending UCR this coming fall. He hopes to become a therapist and a masseuse. Hopefully he will come back to visit Poly and revive school spirit once again. Long live Johnny Football!