Personal Life
Morton Downey, Jr.'s parents were also in show business; his father, Morton Downey, was a popular singer, and his mother, Barbara Bennett, was a singer and dancer. His aunts included Hollywood film stars Constance and Joan Bennett, from whom he was estranged, and his maternal grandfather was the celebrated matinée idol Richard Bennett. Born into a life of luxury, he was raised next door to the Kennedy compound at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.
Downey was married four times and had four children from three of those marriages. With wife Helen he had Melissa, with Joan he had daughters Tracey and Kelli, and with fourth wife and widow Lori he had a daughter. He and Lori met when she appeared as a dancer in a show he attended in Atlantic City.
According to Terry Pluto's book, Loose Balls, Downey was one of the owners of the New Orleans Buccaneers basketball team in the American Basketball Association in the late 1960s.
Downey was also president and co-founder of the proposed World Baseball Association in 1974. The WBA proposed a number of rule changes, including the use of five designated hitters to replace defensive players who would remain in the game; the use of one designated runner per game; the pitcher would be required to throw a pitch within 20 seconds; a walk would be on three balls instead of the usual four; and stealing home after the sixth inning would count as two runs. The WBA never played a game.
In the Super Mario Bros. video game series, the character, Morton Koopa, Jr. was named after him.
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