NFL punter. Talk-show host. Twitter personality.
Those are just the notable occupations that Indianapolis Colts kicker Pat McAfee boasts on his resume.
Now he can add “professional family-reuniter.” During halftime of Sunday’s debacle game against the St. Louis Rams, McAfee one-upped the rest of the league’s Veterans Day recognitions by surprising the Inocencio family of Indiana with a brand-new Toyota car after their vehicle broke down earlier in the week.
But wait, there’s more: Colts mascot Blue drove the car onto the field at halftime for the event sponsored by the Wish for Our Heroes Foundation. In the backset: family patriarch Jeremy Inocencio, who had just returned from his U.S. Army deployment in Afghanistan a week early.
Inocencio emerged from the car to surprise his wife, Christin, and two sons, Dominic and David.
“It’s a cool moment that had me in tears,” McAfee told WTHR Channel 13. “Hopefully it’s a moment that not only that family will remember forever, but the military will remember forever. We appreciate the hell out of them.”
The gesture was another example of the imprint the Colts punter is leaving on the Indianapolis community. He is arguably the most visible person in the Colts organization now who is not named Luck, Irsay, Wayne, and—well, you get the idea.
Pat McAfee simply makes life better.
Happy Veterans Day to all the fine men and women who have fought or are currently fighting for our nation.. You can’t be thanked enough
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) November 11, 2013
