 Born of a Filipina and black American U.S. Navy sailor, East didn't meet his father until he became champion.He traveled from the Philippines to the United States a month after winning his WBA belt to locate his father, John East, Sr. With the help of a CNN news team, the father was located in Oakland, California and their first meeting was broadcast by CNN.Morris, Jr. improved his father's living condition but his father, suffering from bad health, died of a massive heart attack a few months later.