MIAMI BEACH – Twenty years ago, a contestant named Guy Fieri on the second season of what was then “The Next Food Network Star” showed up at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival with little more than spiked hair and ambition.

“He came to that festival that year and was walking around signing postcards because he had nothing else to sign,” recalled Lee Brian Schrager, founder of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival and its New York City counterpart.

Today, Fieri is one of the most recognizable faces in food on television. But, in 2006, he was just another up-and-comer working a crowd on the sand.

Speaking to “Fox & Friends” from Miami Beach, Florida, Friday morning, Fieri said he wasn’t chasing TV fame.

“I was doing what I wanted to do,” he told Steve Doocy while walking the beach. “I wanted to be a great dad. I wanted to be a great husband. I wanted to be a chef. I wanted to own my own restaurant. So, I had accomplished the things I wanted in life and never really saw the other side of it.”

Two decades later, Fieri still comes back.

“He’s been part of our festival every year since he won ‘Food Network Star,’” Schrager told Fox News Digital.

The knack for spotting and elevating talent is part of the festival’s legacy as it marks its 25th year in Miami Beach.

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Schrager recalled a similar instinct with Giada De Laurentiis. When her agent suggested she might be ready the following year, Schrager pushed back.

“I said, ‘I don’t want her next year. I want her this year so she’ll remember where she got her big start,’” Schrager said.

Yet the festival doesn’t claim to have created celebrity chefs.

“We don’t take responsibility for turning anyone into a superstar,” Schrager told Fox News Digital. “We do take some credit for giving them a platform and putting them in front of their fans.”

“Rock stars became chefs and chefs became rock stars.”

Over the past 20 years, the platform has grown alongside the broader transformation of food culture. 

“Rock stars became chefs and chefs became rock stars,” Schrager said.

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What began as a one-day wine event on the campus of Florida International University evolved after Schrager was tasked with reimagining it. His directive was to “make it better — not bigger, but better.”

Schrager had a solution.

“Move it to the beach, partner with the Food Network, get all their celebrities and make it more than just local,” Schrager said.

Today, the festival draws marquee names from the culinary world as well as from music and entertainment. Among those who showed up for Thursday night’s Burger Bash event were comedian Bert Kreischer and Cloud 23 hot sauce founder Brooklyn Peltz Beckham.

Chefs don’t get paid for appearances at the festival.

“If it’s somebody new, the first question out of their agent’s mouth is, ‘Oh, what’s the honorarium? What’s the fee?’ I’m like, ‘Zero,’” Schrager said.

The model works, Schrager said, because the festival operates as a nonprofit benefiting FIU’s Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management.

“Everyone’s doing it to support the cause, or they’re doing it because they want to do it,” Schrager said. “It’s not a bad place to be in the middle of winter.”

The festival has raised more than $50 million for student scholarships.

“To me, that’s why we do it,” Schrager said.

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Along the way, the festival has outlasted many imitators and weathered shifting food trends by staying nimble.

“We listened to the consumers,” Schrager said. 

“There was never any ego involved in this festival.”

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He added, “Our goal was never to be the biggest.”

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“It happens that we turned out to be the biggest, but being the best, or at least doing our best, has always been the most important to me.”

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Teddy Bridgewater has become something of a martyr in Florida.

While coaching at Miami Northwestern High School, the former NFL quarterback admitted to providing players with financial benefits, including Uber rides, meal costs and physical therapy for the team.

His actions led to his suspension last summer, but they are closer to being legal after a bill was signed in the state.

Florida lawmakers on Thursday passed Senate Bill 178, the Teddy Bridgewater Bill, which requires “the Florida High School Athletic Association to adopt bylaws authorizing a head coach to support the welfare of a student by using personal funds to provide certain effects to the student.”

The bill says the coach must report the use of funds to the association, “providing that such use of personal funds is presumed not to be an impermissible benefit, etc.”

The bill will now go to Florida’s House of Representatives.

Speaking to the media in August after signing a one-year deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Bridgewater explained his thought process behind the events that led to his suspension.

“Honestly, I think everyone knows that I’m just a cheerful guy, a cheerful giver as well. I’m a protector. I’m a father first before anything,” he began. “When I decided to coach, those players became my sons, and I wanted to make sure that I just protect them in the best way that I can. I think that’s what came about.” 

He reached out on social media asking for donations “so I no longer have to take from my personal funds to keep smiles on these young men’s faces and remind them that they matter.”

“Miami Northwestern is in a tough neighborhood, and sometimes things can happen when kids are walking home and different things like that,” Bridgewater said at the time. 

“So, I just tried to protect them, give them a ride home instead of them having to take those dangerous walks. I just want people to continue to see me for the person that I’ve been from the time I arrived in the NFL, from the time that I arrived at the University of Louisville, just a humble guy who has a big heart and a cheerful giver.”

Bridgewater was a one-time Pro Bowler in 10 years in the NFL and coached the school to a state title.

Fox News’ Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.

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Despite backlash over Florida lawmakers approving a bill to rename Palm Beach International Airport after President Donald Trump, the move would place him among a growing list of commanders in chief whose names already greet travelers on airport terminals across the country.

If finalized by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Federal Aviation Administration, Palm Beach International would become the ninth commercial U.S. airport named after a president, joining hubs from New York to Houston.

The name change would go into effect on July 1 if signed into law, according to reports, making Trump the first to receive the honor while still in office. 

Palm Beach International Airport holds particular significance, as it is located just minutes from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, which serves as his primary residence.

Following approval by the Florida House and Senate, some Democrats in the Sunshine State pushed back, citing concerns over the cost of rebranding and what they described as a lack of community input, Fox News Digital previously reported.

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung, meanwhile, took to X to say the name “has a GREAT ring to it.”

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Here are eight commercial airports that already bear the names of former presidents.

1. Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport (SPI) 

Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport in Springfield, Illinois, was renamed in 2004 to honor the 16th president, whose longtime home and political base were in the state capital. 

Lincoln’s name was added to the airport’s existing name — the facility first opened as Capital Airport in 1947 — according to the Sangamon County Historical Society.

2. Dickinson Theodore Roosevelt Regional Airport (DIK) 

Dickinson Municipal Airport opened in 1959 and was later renamed Dickinson Theodore Roosevelt Regional Airport to honor President Theodore Roosevelt, reflecting the region’s connection to the nearby Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the president’s legacy in the North Dakota area, according to reports.

3. Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport (ICT)

Wichita’s airport was renamed Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport in November 2014 to honor the 34th president, who considered Kansas his home state, following a citizen-led petition effort, according to the airport’s website.

4. John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)

John F. Kennedy International Airport was renamed just weeks after Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963, with New York City officials voting in December to change the name from Idlewild Airport in his honor. 

The new name was formally unveiled on Christmas Eve 1963, making it one of the swiftest presidential airport renamings, according to “The Bowery Boys,” a popular New York City history blog.

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5. Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR)

Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids was renamed in 1999 to honor the 38th president, a longtime Michigan resident who represented the area in Congress for more than two decades before ascending to the White House, according to the airport’s website.

6. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport was renamed in 1998 after Congress passed legislation changing the name from Washington National Airport to honor the 40th president, according to the airport. The bill was signed into law by President Bill Clinton, marking the first time the airport’s name had been changed since it opened in 1941. The renaming came nearly a decade after Reagan left office.

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7. George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH)

Houston Intercontinental Airport was renamed in 1997 to honor former President George H.W. Bush, becoming George Bush Intercontinental Airport four years after he left office, according to the Texas State Historical Association. 

The change recognized Bush’s longtime ties to Houston, where he lived and built much of his political career.

8. Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport (LIT) 

In March 2012, Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport was unveiled, replacing the former Little Rock National Airport/Adams Field designation to honor the former president, a native Arkansan, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for their long-standing ties to the southern state.

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Fox News Digital’s Charles Creitz contributed to this report.

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