Tim McGraw is mourning the loss of a close family member. The Louisiana native reveals that his Uncle Hank was 81 years old when he passed away on July 6.
“This weekend we lost the patriarch of the McGraw family,” McGraw writes. “Our beloved ‘Uncle Hank.’ He was just an incredible man. He had a way of lighting up any room he walked into without trying. He was a no-BS, straight shooter. Honest and truthful, even if it hurt. A true renaissance man, All-American high school athlete, 11 years professional baseball, played guitar, sang beautifully, was an incredible leather and bead craftsman, and more than that, he was a good friend to all who knew him, and he loved with an open heart… Aw man, and he told the best stories!
“He was and continues to be a huge presence in the lives of our family and his friends,” he adds. “He was a legend and that legend will grow with each passing year in future generations of McGraws! We will keep his memories alive!! He loved, he was so very loved and he will be terribly missed.”
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Hank was the older brother of McGraw’s father, Tug McGraw, who passed away in 2004. It was Hank who first became a professional baseball player, after signing with the New York Mets, later encouraging Tug to try out as well.
McGraw also honored his Uncle Hank a few years ago, when he turned 78 years old.
“Happy Birthday to our uncle Hank McGraw!” the singer wrote at the time. “One of the coolest dudes to ever walk the planet. He was a great athlete who put his principles first and his career second. Uncle Hank you have taught my daughters by example in how equality matters on all levels at all times…We love you and Happy 78th!”
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McGraw’s relationship with Hank likely began after he was an adult. The country music superstar grew up thinking Horace Smith, the husband of his mother Betty D’Agostino, was his father, until he found his birth certificate when he was 11, listing Tug McGraw as his father. Unfortunately, the professional baseball player didn’t want a relationship with his biological son at first, but they became close after McGraw became an adult, and remained close until Tug passed away in early 2004 from incurable brain cancer.
“People ask me, ‘How could you have a relationship with your father? You were growing up in nothing. He was a millionaire baseball player. He knew you were there, and he didn’t do anything,’” McGraw said on the Today Show. “But when I found out Tug McGraw was my dad, it gave me something in my little town in Louisiana, something that I would have never reached for. How could I ever be angry?”