Editing Pat Boone (section)

== Personal life ==
[[File:Shirley and Pat Boone, Debbie Reynolds and Harry Karl, 1960.jpg|thumb|255x255px|Shirley and Pat Boone with [[Debbie Reynolds]] and her husband Harry Karl, 1960]]
In 1953, Boone married Shirley Lee Foley,<ref name="Shirley Boone death">{{cite news|last=Goldstein|first=Joelle|title=Pat Boone's Wife of 65 Years, Shirley, Dies: 'I've Parted with My Better Half for a Little While'|url=https://people.com/music/pat-boone-wife-shirley-dies-at-84|access-date=January 12, 2019|work=People|date=January 11, 2019}}</ref> the daughter of [[Red Foley]] and [[Judy Martin (singer)|Judy Martin]]. The Boones had four daughters: [[Cherry Boone|Cheryl "Cherry" Lynn]], Linda "Lindy" Lee, [[Debby Boone|Deborah "Debby" Ann]], and Laura "Laury" Gene. 

In the late 1950s, Boone and his family were residents of [[Teaneck, New Jersey]].<ref>Staff. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120724232832/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/2068855972.html?FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Jun+16%2C+1958&author=&pub=Daily+Boston+Globe+(1928-1960)&desc=Kings+for+A+Day&pqatl=google "Kings for A Day"],  ''[[The Boston Globe]]'', June 16, 1958. Retrieved March 30, 2011. "Singer Pat Boone and family leave Leonia, NJ home for church. Front, Cherry, 3 1/2; Debbie, 1 1/2, and Linda, 2 1/2."</ref> Shirley Boone was also a recording artist and television personality, though less known than her husband. She founded a hunger-relief Christian ministry that evolved into [[Mercy Corps]].<ref name="Shirley Boone death" /> She died in 2019, aged 84, at the couple's Beverly Hills home of complications from [[vasculitis]], which she had contracted less than a year earlier.<ref name="Shirley Boone death" />

=== Politics ===
Boone has been a close friend to many U.S. presidents, including [[Ronald Reagan]] and [[Jimmy Carter]].<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ra9ii3KTdA |title=Pat Boone Reflects on his Long Friendship with Ronald Reagan |date=2021-09-20 |last=Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute |access-date=2024-10-06 |via=YouTube}}</ref>

At a 1961 gathering at [[Pepperdine College]], Boone said, "I would rather see my four girls shot and die as little girls who have faith in God than leave them to die some years later as godless, faithless, soulless communists."<ref>{{cite web |title=Kristin Kobes Du Mez > Quotes |url=https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/20374247.Kristin_Kobes_Du_Mez?page=5 |website=[[Goodreads]] |postscript=,}} quoting from {{cite book |author=Kristin Kobes Du Mez |title=Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation |publisher=WW Norton |year=2020 |isbn=9781631495731 |authorlink=Kristin Kobes Du Mez}}</ref>

Boone supported [[Barry Goldwater]] in the [[1964 United States presidential election]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Critchlow |first1=Donald T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QfHXAAAAQBAJ&q=pat%20boone |title=When Hollywood Was Right: How Movie Stars, Studio Moguls, and Big Business Remade American Politics |date=October 21, 2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781107650282}}</ref> [[File:Pat Boone by Gage Skidmore.jpg|thumb|right|Boone at [[Conservative Political Action Conference|CPAC]] in February 2011]] In the 2007 Kentucky gubernatorial election, Boone campaigned unsuccessfully for incumbent [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[Ernie Fletcher]] with a recorded automated telephone message stating that the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] candidate [[Steve Beshear]] would support "every homosexual cause". As part of the campaign, Boone asked, "Now do you want a governor who'd like Kentucky to be another San Francisco?"<ref>{{cite web |last=Kleefeld |first=Eric |date=November 4, 2007 |title=Kentucky GOP Pushing Anti-Gay Message in Final Days Of Gov Race |url=http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2007/11/kentucky_gop_pushing_antigay_message_in_final_days_of_gov_race.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071105172656/http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2007/11/kentucky_gop_pushing_antigay_message_in_final_days_of_gov_race.php |archive-date=November 5, 2007 |access-date=November 5, 2007 |work=TPM Election Central}}</ref> In 2009, during [[Barack Obama]]'s first term in office, Boone wrote an article comparing liberalism to cancer, likening it to "black filthy cells".<ref>{{cite web |date=June 26, 2014 |title=Pat Boone: 'Obama's Birth Certificate Will Be Proven As Fake By September' |url=https://uproxx.com/music/pat-boone-obamas-birth-certificate-will-be-proven-as-fake-by-september/ |access-date=January 22, 2019 |website=Uproxx.com}}</ref>  In December 2009, Boone endorsed conservative Republican John Wayne Tucker in [[Missouri's 3rd congressional district]] against incumbent [[Russ Carnahan]] in the 2010 midterm elections.<ref>{{cite web |date=December 15, 2009 |title=Pat Boone Endorses John Wayne Tucker for Congress |url=http://johnwaynetucker.com/congress/campaign_endorsements.html |access-date=January 26, 2011 |website=JohnWayneTucker.com}}</ref> In 2010, Boone endorsed Republican Clayton Trotter in the race for [[Texas's 20th congressional district]] with an ad campaign referencing his song "[[Speedy Gonzales (song)|Speedy Gonzales]]", about [[Speedy Gonzales|the Looney Tunes character]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Greg Jefferson |date=October 28, 2010 |title=Trotter's campaign ad had to be an inside job |url=https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Trotter-s-campaign-ad-had-to-be-an-inside-job-735873.php |journal=San Antonio Express-News |access-date=June 25, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Kyle Mantyla |date=October 28, 2010 |title=Clayton Trotter: "The Anglo With The Hispanic Heart" |url=https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/clayton-trotter-the-anglo-with-the-hispanic-heart/ |access-date=June 25, 2021 |website=RightWingWatch}}</ref> Boone received a lifetime achievement award at the 38th annual Conservative Political Action Conference held in 2011.<ref>{{cite web |date=February 9, 2011 |title=Boone Honored By CPAC Lifetime Achievement Award |url=http://60plus.org/boone-honored-by-cpac-lifetime-achievement-award |access-date=May 4, 2012 |website=60plus.org |publisher=[[60 Plus Association]]}}</ref>

In 2016, Boone, with [[Mike Huckabee]] and executive producer Troy Duhon, all of whom were involved in the film ''[[God's Not Dead 2]]'', sent a letter to California Governor [[Jerry Brown]] in opposition to Senate Bill 1146,<ref>{{cite web |title=Bill Text – SB-1146 Discrimination: postsecondary education. |url=https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1146 |access-date=January 22, 2019 |website=Leginfo.legislature.ca.gov}}</ref> which "prohibits a person from being subjected to discrimination" at California colleges. Other than schools that train pastors and theology teachers, schools "might no longer be allowed to hire Christian-only staff, teach religious ideas in regular classes, require attendance at chapel services, or keep bathrooms and dormitories restricted to either males or females".<ref>{{cite web |last=Bond |first=Paul |date=June 30, 2016 |title=''God's Not Dead 2'' Filmmakers Wade into California Politics |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/gods-not-dead-2-filmmakers-907838 |access-date=August 24, 2016 |work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]}}</ref>

=== Basketball ===
Boone is a basketball fan and had ownership interests in two teams. He owned a team in the Hollywood Studio League called the Cooga Moogas, which included [[Bill Cosby]], [[Rafer Johnson]], [[Gardner McKay]], [[Don Murray (actor)|Don Murray]], and [[Denny Miller|Denny "Tarzan" Miller]].<ref name="Remember the ABA">{{cite web |title=Oakland Oaks |url=http://www.remembertheaba.com/Oakland-Oaks.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927223307/http://www.remembertheaba.com/Oakland-Oaks.html |archive-date=September 27, 2007 |access-date=November 10, 2007 |work=Remember the ABA}}</ref>  When the [[American Basketball Association]] launched in 1967, Boone was the majority owner of the league's team in [[Oakland, California]].<ref name="Remember the ABA" /> The team was first named the Oakland Americans, but was soon renamed the [[Oakland Oaks (ABA)|Oakland Oaks]], the name under which it played from 1967 to 1969.<ref name="Remember the ABA" /> The Oaks won the [[1969 ABA Playoffs|1969 ABA championship]].<ref>{{cite web |title=1968–69 ABA Regular Season Standings |url=http://www.remembertheaba.com/PlayoffPages/1969Playoffs.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017202704/http://remembertheaba.com/PlayoffPages/1969Playoffs.html |archive-date=October 17, 2007 |access-date=November 10, 2007 |work=Remember the ABA}}</ref>

Despite their success on the court, the team had severe financial problems. In 1969, [[Bank of America]] threatened to foreclose on a $1.2&nbsp;million loan,<ref>{{cite web |title=Oakland Oaks/Washington Caps/Virginia Squires Year-to-Year Franchise Notes |url=http://www.remembertheaba.com/VirginiaMaterial/OaksCapsSquiresYearly.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614055042/http://remembertheaba.com/VirginiaMaterial/OaksCapsSquiresYearly.html |archive-date=June 14, 2007 |access-date=November 10, 2007 |work=Remember the ABA}}</ref> and Boone sold the team to a Washington, D.C.-based investment group, and the team became the [[Washington Caps]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Oakland Oaks/Washington Caps/Virginia Squires Year-to-Year Rosters |url=http://www.remembertheaba.com/VirginiaMaterial/SquiresRosters2.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070626220240/http://www.remembertheaba.com/VirginiaMaterial/SquiresRosters2.html |archive-date=June 26, 2007 |access-date=November 10, 2007 |work=Remember the ABA}}</ref>

Boone later played for the Virginia Creepers, an 80–84 age group [[Senior Olympics]] team that narrowly lost to the gold medal-winning team; Boone aged out at 85 in 2019.<ref>{{cite web |title=NSGA Basketball Results |url=https://nsga-results.fusesport.com/ladder.asp?id=154999&seasonid=285 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614055042/https://nsga-results.fusesport.com/ladder.asp?id=154999&seasonid=285 |archive-date=June 14, 2007 |access-date=November 10, 2007 |work=NSGA}}</ref>

=== Philanthropy ===
Boone and his wife have been active in charitable endeavors. Together, they supported the founding of [[Mercy Corps]] in 1981, a global humanitarian organization focused on crisis response and development in over 40 countries. This initiative stemmed from an earlier project, ''Save the Refugees'', which Shirley launched in 1979, during the [[Cambodian genocide|Cambodian crisis]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Shirley Boone, wife of Pat Boone and philanthropist, dies |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2019/01/12/shirley-boone-wife-pat-boone-and-philanthropist-dies/2562797002/ |access-date=2024-10-06 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US}}</ref>

The Boones also contributed to the creation of the Shirley and Pat Boone Life Center in Tanzania<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-01-23 |title='We Started Holding Hands the Moment We Met': Pat Boone's Touching Tribute to His Wife Shirley Boone |url=https://cbn.com/news/news/we-started-holding-hands-moment-we-met-pat-boones-touching-tribute-his-wife-shirley-boone |access-date=2024-10-06 |website=CBN |language=en}}</ref> which provides clean drinking water, medical care, and education to local communities. The couple also created, through a multi-million dollar donation, the Shirley and Pat Boone Center for the Family at [[Pepperdine University]], which educates students on building moral and healthy relationships.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pat Boone: Charity Work & Causes |url=https://www.looktothestars.org/celebrity/pat-boone |access-date=2024-10-06 |website=Look to the Stars |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=TimesOC |first=Kathleen Luppi Kathleen Luppi was the entertainment editor for |last2=TimesOC |first2=the Daily Pilot She left |last3=publications |first3=the Daily Pilot in 2018 Before joining those |last4=Register |first4=she was an award-winning journalist at the Orange County |last5=Retail |first5=Where for Seven Years She Helped Cover |last6=civil |last7=Trials |first7=Criminal |last8=Events |first8=Philanthropic |last9=home |date=2017-09-14 |title=Pat Boone celebrates 60 years of show business with O.C. concert |url=https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/entertainment/tn-wknd-et-pat-boone-20170914-story.html |access-date=2024-10-06 |website=Daily Pilot |language=en-US}}</ref>