On January 2, 2006, Laura Quinn sat in the stands at the Fiesta Bowl wearing something nobody had ever seen before—a custom split jersey. Half of it showed her brother Brady Quinn’s Notre Dame blue with his number 10. The other half displayed her boyfriend A.J. Hawk’s Ohio State scarlet with his number 47. When ABC cameras found her in the crowd, she became an instant part of college football history. But that one viral moment? It’s just a small piece of Laura’s much bigger story.
Today, nearly two decades later, Laura Quinn Hawk runs a successful interior design business, raises four children with rock-star names, and lives a surprisingly normal life in Dublin, Ohio. She’s built her own career that has nothing to do with the athletes in her family. Yet most people still know her as “the split jersey girl” or “A.J. Hawk’s wife.” That’s changing, and it’s time we got the real picture.
Who Is Laura Quinn Hawk?
Laura Quinn Hawk isn’t just a celebrity spouse. She’s a creative entrepreneur who founded her own company, LCH Interiors, and grew it across six-plus states. Born in 1983 (though some sources say 1985) in Columbus, Ohio, she’s now 41 or 42 years old and calls Dublin, Ohio, home.
Standing at 5’8″, Laura has the kind of quiet confidence that comes from building something from nothing. Her job title? Interior designer, business owner, mother of four. But those labels barely cover who she is. She grew up surrounded by athletes and achieved her own success through hard work and creativity—without needing a football field to do it.
Laura’s approach to life stands out because she does her own thing. While her brother Brady played quarterback for Notre Dame and her husband dominated the NFL, she chose the design world. She keeps her family mostly private, carefully manages what she shares on Instagram, and rarely does interviews. In a world obsessed with celebrity drama, she’s the person who just wants to make beautiful spaces and raise her kids without everyone watching.
Growing Up in an Athletic Family
The Quinn household wasn’t exactly quiet. Laura’s father, Tyrone J. Quinn, was a Vietnam-era Marine, which meant discipline and hard work weren’t just ideas—they were the family standard. Her mother, Robin Quinn, came from a family that owned clothing stores in Ohio. So while sports excellence was prized, there was also respect for business and creativity.
Brady, Laura’s younger brother, became Notre Dame’s starting quarterback and later played in the NFL for the Browns, Chiefs, and other teams. Kelly, her younger sister, excelled as a soccer player at the University of Virginia and married NHL player Jack Johnson. Basically, the Quinn kids were no joke when it came to achievement.
But here’s the thing: Laura chose a different path. She didn’t want to compete in sports. Instead, she went after design and the arts. Her family supported that choice. That flexibility—allowing each child to find their own lane—shaped who Laura became. She learned early that success doesn’t have just one definition.
The 2006 Fiesta Bowl: A Moment That Changed Everything
Imagine being 23 years old and having to pick a side. Your brother’s playing quarterback for Notre Dame. Your boyfriend’s a linebacker for Ohio State. They’re facing each other in a major bowl game. Most people would just pick a team and hope for the best. Laura did something different—she made a split jersey so she could support both of them at once.
That jersey became iconic. Half Notre Dame blue (#10 for Brady), half Ohio State scarlet (#47 for A.J.), it created an unusual #17 that had never existed before. When the ABC cameras kept cutting to Laura in the stands, she wasn’t prepared for what would happen next. The game became bigger than just football—it became about her divided loyalty and the clash of two worlds she loved.
Ohio State won 34-20, and A.J. had a great game, even sacking Brady twice. The victory was bittersweet for Laura, but the jersey? It lived on. More than 15 years later, Pat McAfee (A.J.’s current co-host on The Pat McAfee Show) actually wore that same jersey for the 2023 Ohio State-Notre Dame matchup. It was framed, preserved, and treated like an artifact because it captured something real and human that fans connected with immediately.
Meeting A.J. and Building Something Together
Laura met A.J. Hawk in 2004 through a mutual friend named Fred Pagac Jr., who’d played linebacker at Ohio State. They hit it off right away. A.J. was still in school, playing for the Buckeyes, while Laura was studying broadcasting at California State University out in California. So they had distance to deal with, but something kept drawing them closer.
The relationship moved fast. Within five months of dating seriously, A.J. proposed. He wasn’t the most fashionable guy when they met—Laura jokes that he wore red fleece and baggy pants initially. She gently helped improve his style, which turned out to be just the first of many ways they’d support each other’s growth.
They got married twice, actually. The civil ceremony happened on July 24, 2006, just days after A.J. signed his rookie contract with the Green Bay Packers ($37.5 million deal). The formal wedding celebration came later, on St. Patrick’s Day 2007, in Dublin, Ohio. That second ceremony had its drama—a photographer posted wedding photos online without permission, including pictures of Brady dressed in a Village People costume. It was an early lesson in managing privacy as a public figure’s spouse.
From Broadcasting Student to Design Entrepreneur
Here’s where Laura’s story gets interesting. She’d gone to college for broadcasting, but her true passion was design. Growing up with a mother and grandmother who owned clothing stores, she’d been around creative business her whole life. That background, combined with specialized arts training from Baltimore School of Arts, gave her the skills and the drive to pursue interior design.
In 2007—the same year she married A.J.—Laura founded LCH Interiors in Green Bay, Wisconsin. She was 24 years old, newly married, and her husband was starting his NFL career. Most people would’ve waited. She didn’t. She started her business while juggling the challenges of being an NFL wife—moving when the team needed to move, managing household duties, raising kids while A.J. was traveling for games.
Today, LCH Interiors operates across six-plus states with a headquarters in Dublin, Ohio. Her design philosophy is about creating “clean and classic spaces made modern through striking colors and distinct patterns.” She works on everything from residential custom builds and renovations to hotel interiors. Clients come to her because her work speaks for itself—beautiful, functional spaces that don’t feel cold or impersonal.
Laura charges $75 an hour for her time, and she works with high-end trade resources including exclusive fabrics, wallpapers, and furniture. In 2018, she brought on a junior designer named Lexie Salupo, showing the business had grown enough to expand her team. That’s real growth built on reputation and quality work, not famous connections.
The Hawk Family Today
Laura and A.J. have four children: Lennon (born 2010), Hendrix (born 2013), Vedder (born 2015), and Axl (born 2017). The names—after John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Vedder, and Axl Rose—show something about Laura and A.J.’s personality. They’re creative people who want their kids to have distinctive identities, not generic names. They honor music history while giving their children something unique.
As a mother, Laura keeps her kids mostly away from the spotlight, which isn’t easy when your husband’s face is on The Pat McAfee Show five days a week. She’s careful about what she posts on Instagram. You’ll see design work constantly, but family photos are limited and carefully chosen to protect her children’s privacy.
A.J. retired from football in 2017 after 11 seasons with the Packers (plus brief stints with the Bengals and Falcons). The family moved back to Ohio, closer to Laura’s roots and her parents. While A.J. started building his media career with ESPN’s Pat McAfee Show, Laura continued running LCH Interiors and managing the household. That’s real partnership—both of them supporting each other’s work.
A Life Built on Her Own Terms
Laura Quinn Hawk didn’t become famous because of football. She became known because of that one moment with the split jersey. But her actual legacy has nothing to do with that game. It’s about building a successful business in a competitive industry, raising four creative kids, supporting her spouse’s career transition, and doing it all while staying mostly private in a world that loves celebrity gossip.
She’s a designer who chose excellence over exposure. An entrepreneur who built something real. A wife who’s an equal partner, not just someone in the background. A mother who protects her children while teaching them creativity and resilience. That’s Laura Quinn Hawk—the person behind the jersey, behind the famous name, and behind the design firm that keeps growing because she actually knows how to do the work. In a landscape full of people chasing attention, she quietly built something that matters.
