Pat McAfee family tree: Meet wife Samantha, daughter Mackenzie Lynn & more from Pennsylvania roots

Dan Treacy

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Pat McAfee family tree: Meet wife Samantha, daughter Mackenzie Lynn & more from Pennsylvania roots image

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    Pat McAfee entered the NFL with a mission to remind fans that punters are people, too. Consider that mission accomplished.

    McAfee spent eight seasons with the Colts as a punter, a stint that included two Pro Bowl appearance and an All-Pro selection. It's what McAfee has done since his surprise retirement that has helped continue to put punters on the map, however. 

    McAfee has morphed into a mega star in sports media, moving from Barstool Sports to his own show, which was absorbed by ESPN after skyrocketing in popularity. Now, McAfee can be found everywhere — literally everywhere, it seems — for ESPN, expanding his reach beyond football.

    Here's a look inside the family that has helped McAfee become one of the most prominent on-screen sports media personalities. 

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    Pat McAfee wife: Samantha McAfee 

    Pat McAfee's wife, Samantha, is from Indianapolis and is a graduate of the University of Southern Indiana. The two became engaged in 2019 after dating for several years, with Pat proposing in front of a massive waterfall in Hawaii. 

    Pat and Samantha married in Indiana in 2020, after a venue change from Hawaii due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After the wedding, Pat called himself "the luckiest man to ever grace this here planet." 

    Samantha is an advocate for animal welfare and mental health awareness. She has openly described her struggles with anxiety and worked to "break the stigma" surrounding mental health conversations.

    "Mental health looks and feels different for everybody & had I never told you, you'd probably never know," Samantha said in an Instagram post. "I am speaking out in hopes it helps break the stigma."

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    What is Fur the Brand?

    Samantha has owned various pets throughout her life and has made a career as an animal advocate, including working as a pet groomer. After her own dog battled cancer, she founded a non-profit organization named Fur The Brand to spread awareness and raise money for canine cancer.

    The name is a play on her husband's "For the brand" slogan, which he uses when a kicker or punter does something that helps build the reputation — or "brand" — for specialists such as himself. 

    In 2025, the organization announced it was pausing operations. "Although Fur The Brand may be pausing operations, the spirit of our mission lives on in the memories we’ve created together and the lives we’ve touched," the Fur The Brand site reads. 

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    Pat McAfee daughter: Mackenzie Lynn McAfee

    After a candid struggle about their difficulty conceiving, Pat and Samantha welcomed a daughter named Mackenzie Lynn on May 4, 2023.

    Samantha previously revealed that she suffered two miscarriages. She penned an emotional pregnancy announcement before giving birth to Mackenzie, writing, "For those of you who haven't followed along with our parenthood journey, we have lost two pregnancies. I almost lost my life both times with internal bleeding, resulting in losing both of my Fallopian tubes, which has caused us to not be able to conceive naturally."

    Pat and Samantha conceived through in-vitro fertilization, which she called "physically demanding and emotionally challenging."

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    Samantha noted that her story had a happy ending and said she hoped it served as an inspiration to other couples struggling with infertility. 

    Pat McAfee dogs: Chuck and Valerie Ann

    Both Pat and Samantha are animal advocates, and they have two dogs that they cherish in Chuck and Valerie Ann.

    Chuck is a corgi who was born in December 2018, while Valerie is a pit bull-shar pei mix. Valerie's battle with cancer, which included two surgeries, inspired Samantha to launch Fur The Brand. 

    Pat McAfee dad: Tim McAfee

    McAfee's father, Tim, worked as a truck driver before becoming a cabinet salesman. When Pat was in the NFL with the Colts, his father started painting cabinets.

    Pat credits his father with inspiring him to work hard toward every goal. 

    "He's always been the guy who said to me, 'If you're not working and getting better, the person who wants your job is,'" Pat told the Colts' website in 2014. "That's how I approached things.  He's pushed me to be a hard-working person who can do anything I want."

    In a 2022 Instagram post, McAfee referred to his father as a "truck driving, wood working, gun shooting, work ethic champion." 

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    Pat McAfee mom: Sally McAfee

    McAfee's mother, Sally, married Tim McAfee in 1982. While not much is known about her background, Pat once called her a "motivator, a nurse, a lawyer (representing me in multiple school 'situations' as a child), a psychologist," referring not to her actual jobs, but the jobs she performed as a mother. 

    In 2018, Pat said the greatest gift his mother taught him was "patience." 

    Pat McAfee brother: Jason McAfee

    McAfee's brother, Jason, was an original co-host of "The Pat McAfee Show" for parts of the show's first two years. Jason was also once the drummer in a band named Outlined In Blood.

    While Jason left the show to focus on other ventures, the family remains close. In 2021, Pat called Jason his "opposite" because his brother is "calm and calculated" as well as musically gifted.

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    Pat McAfee father-in-law: Bob 'Papa Bear' Ludy

    McAfee had a close relationship with his father-in-law, Bob Ludy, before Ludy unexpectedly died in 2024. 

    "My wife is a daddy’s girl," McAfee said on his show after Ludy's passing. "She actually has a bear tattooed on her because she calls her dad ‘papa bear.' She has her dad’s quotes all over her."

    McAfee briefly missed a scheduled WWE appearance in 2024 and revealed the following day that Ludy had passed away after battling an infection that he was expected to recover from. 

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    Where is Pat McAfee from?

    McAfee was born in Plum, Pennsylvania, a northeast suburb of Pittsburgh. He attended the University of West Virginia just a few hours south before heading to Indianapolis, where he became one of the NFL's top punters with the Colts.

    Anyone who watches McAfee's show for more than a day or two is likely to find out about his Pittsburgh and West Virginia ties. McAfee frequently exaggerates the Pittsburgh accent, and he is not shy about supporting his Mountaineers. 

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    Dan Treacy

    Dan Treacy is a content producer for Sporting News, joining in 2022 after graduating from Boston University. He founded @allsportsnews on Instagram in 2012 and has written for Lineups and Yardbarker.