The following item from the New York Daily News’ Teri Thompson, Michael O’Keefe and Nathaniel Vinto is a day old and follows an earlier report you’ve probably already seen. But I’ll use any excuse, however flimsy, to link Hall Of Famer Joe Morgan to a sex scandal. 19 current or former NHL players are suing golf course developer Ken Jowdy, alleging he misued millions of dollars that could’ve otherwise been spent…I dunno, helping Sammy Hagar launch a new line of adult diapers?
According to the lawsuit, Jowdy used the hockey players’ money to purchase private planes to ferry notables such as Roger Clemens, Reggie Jackson, Pete Rose and Joe Morgan around the country; threw parties for the athletes and other clients, complete with “porn stars, escorts, strippers, party girls and other women”; and provided athletes and other friends with “gratuitous extravagant private air travel, five-star hotel accommodations, luxury home rentals, unlimited food and beverage expenses, golf tournaments and lavish parties several times a year.”
Jowdy denies all that. “Roger Clemens, Reggie Jackson, Joe Morgan and Pete Rose are all friends of mine. They’ve taken time out of their schedules, at my request, to attend functions in Mexico to promote our projects,” he told The News. “They have been gracious with their time and efforts in showing support to me, and have been gracious in playing golf and socializing with prospective buyers. At no time have they ever participated in, or has there ever existed, parties with hookers, strippers or porn stars.”
Ronald Richards, the California attorney who filed the suit on behalf of the hockey players, told the Daily News that he has photographs that support allegations that Jowdy squandered the hockey players’ money on wild parties, although he acknowledged the photos did not prove anything illegal or unseemly occurred. But the main issue, he said, is that Jowdy blew his clients’ money and has nothing to show for it.
Jowdy claims he has barely met the plaintiffs, who he says made their investments via his business-partner-turned nemesis Phil Kenner (above), who he says blocked all access to the hockey players. Jowdy says Kenner, an Arizona businessman who calls himself a “lifestyle coach” and has served as a financial adviser to many of the athletes who are plaintiffs in the case, is behind the lawsuit.