Jump to content

Heather McKay

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Heather McKay
Full nameHeather Pamela McKay
Country Australia
Born (1941-07-31) 31 July 1941 (age 83)
Queanbeyan, New South Wales
Height1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)[1]
Turned pro1960 (squash)
Retired1979 (squash)
Women's Singles
Highest ranking1
World OpenW (1976, 1979)
Medal record
Women's squash
Representing  Australia
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1976 Brisbane Singles
Gold medal – first place 1979 Sheffield Singles

Heather Pamela McKay (née Blundell) (born 31 July 1941) is an Australian retired squash player, who is considered by many to be the greatest female player in the history of the game.[2] She dominated the women's squash game in the 1960s and 1970s, winning 16 consecutive British Open titles from 1962 to 1977, and capturing the inaugural women's World Open title in 1976, while remaining undefeated during that period. She was also a top-level player of other sports, including field hockey and racquetball.

Career

[edit]

McKay was born in 1941 as Heather Blundell in Queanbeyan. She came from a family of eleven children. Her father was a baker and her mother a stay-at-home parent.[3] The entire family was athletic, with some members competing at a high level.[4] Her parents encouraged McKay to play tennis in the summer and hockey in the winter.[5] It wasn't until she was eighteen years old that she encountered squash as a way to improve her fitness.[3] Initially, she did this non-professionally and without formal coaching, until a friend suggested she compete in the New South Wales Country Championship. There, she won the junior and women's titles.[4]

Her success at that championship was noticed by the president of the Australian Squash Association. On his recommendation, McKay participated in the 1960 New South Wales Championships in Sydney. She won the junior tournament but lost in the quarterfinals of the women's tournament to Yvonne West. After this tournament, she shifted her focus from tennis to squash, although she did not completely give up other sports. Her potential was also noticed by squash champion, and the patriarch of the Khan squash family of Pakistan, Hashim Khan, who told the press in Canberra, "this girl could be very good".[4]

In 1960, she won the Australian title for the first time, which she would win thirteen more times consecutively.[4] She also won the New South Wales and Victoria championships between 1961 and 1973.[1] Supported by sponsors, she then moved to Sydney to further her career.[4] There, she met Brian McKay, whom she married in 1965 and whose surname she took.[6]

In 1962, she lost to Fran Marshall at the Scottish Championship.[4] This was her second loss in her professional career, and the last until her retirement in 1979.[5] That same year, she participated for the first time in the British Open Squash Championship, known until 1976 as the unofficial world championship. She won this tournament and the following fifteen times.[4]

Meanwhile, McKay remained interested in other sports from her youth. She represented Australia in hockey in 1967 and 1971.[4]

In 1976, she won the first World Open Squash for women, although it is disputed whether this tournament was an official world championship. McKay moved to Toronto in 1975 and competed in the US squash championship in 1977, which she won. In 1979, she competed again in the World Open Squash, this time officially undisputed, and won it again.[4]

At the age of 38 McKay retired from squash. McKay wrote a book, Heather McKay's Complete Book of Squash, which was released in 1979. After her retirement she took up racquetball, in which she was also successful.[4] As early as 1977, she won the US Amateur Racquetball Championship.[1] In 1980, she won the Canadian Racquetball Championship, which she won again from 1982 to 1985. In 1980, 1981, and 1984, she won the US Professional Racquetball Championship.[7]

In 1985, she moved back to Australia. That year, she became an assistant coach for squash at the Australian Institute of Sport in Brisbane, with Geoff Hunt as head coach.[4][3] In that role, she coached Michelle Martin,[8] Natalie Grinham, and Rachel Grinham.[6] Besides coaching, she also won the World Masters Squash Championships four times during that period: in 1987 and 1990 in the over-45 category and in 1993 and 1995 in the over-50 category. She stopped coaching in 1999 and ended her involvement in squash.[4] She then moved to Canberra.[9]

Since the late 1990s, she has participated in senior tennis tournaments, both singles and doubles.[10] In 2001, she won the World Senior Championships and the team event, the Alice Marble Cup.[1][11] In 2016, her partner passed away,[12] which prompted her to move back to Queanbeyan in 2018.[3]

Championship results

[edit]

World Open

[edit]
Year Location Opponent in the final Score in the final Outcome
1976 Brisbane, Australia Australia Marion Jackman 9–2, 9–2, 9–0 Winner
1979 Sheffield, England England Sue Cogswell 6–9, 9–3, 9–1, 9–4 Winner

British Open

[edit]
Year Location Opponent in the final Score in the final Outcome
1962 The Royal Automobile Club – London England Fran Marshall 9–6, 9–5, 9–4 Winner
1963 Landsdowne and Royal Aero Clubs England Fran Marshall 9–4, 9–2, 9–6 Winner
1964 Landsdowne and Royal Aero Clubs England Fran Marshall 9–2, 9–2, 9–1 Winner
1965 Landsdowne and Royal Aero Clubs England Anna Craven-Smith 9–0, 9–1, 9–2 Winner
1966 Landsdowne and Royal Aero Clubs England Anna Craven-Smith 9–0, 9–0, 10–8 Winner
1967 London, England England Anna Craven-Smith 9–1, 10–8, 9–6 Winner
1968 London, England Australia Bev Johnson 9–0, 9–0, 9–0 Winner
1969 Sheffield, England England Fran Marshall 9–2, 9–0, 9–0 Winner
1970 Birmingham, England South Africa Marcia Roche 9–1, 9–1, 9–0 Winner
1971 Birmingham, England England Jenny Irving 9–0, 9–3, 9–1 Winner
1972 Sheffield, England South Africa Kathy Malan 9–1, 9–1, 9–2 Winner
1973 Sheffield, England New Zealand C. Fleming 9–1, 9–0, 9–1 Winner
1974 Sheffield, England England Sue Cogswell 9–2, 9–1, 9–2 Winner
1975 Wembley, England Australia Marion Jackman 9–3, 9–1, 9–5 Winner
1976 Wembley, England Australia Sue Newmann 9–2, 9–4, 9–2 Winner
1977 Wembley, England Australia Barbara Wall 9–3, 9–1, 9–2 Winner

Recognition

[edit]

Bibliography

[edit]
  • McKay, Heather; Batten, Jack (1978). Heather McKay's complete book of squash. London: Angus & Robertson. ISBN 0207957851.

See also

[edit]

Footnotes

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d "Heather McKay". WiseWomen. 16 March 2018. Archived from the original on 5 December 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  2. ^ Kaplan, Jim. "McKay has a new racquet". SI Vault. Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on 28 December 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  3. ^ a b c d Gravel, Tim (4 October 2020). "Australia's greatest ever sportswoman is still going strong in Queanbeyan". Riotact. Archived from the original on 5 December 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Heather McKay". womenaustralia.info. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  5. ^ a b Eaton, Richard (31 July 2017). "Heather McKay: Sport's greatest, mysterious record". Squash Player. Archived from the original on 5 December 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  6. ^ a b "McKay, Heather Pamela (1941 - )". The Australian Women's Register. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  7. ^ "Heather McKay". Archived from the original on 6 December 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  8. ^ "Michelle Martin OAM". Archived from the original on 5 December 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  9. ^ "Interview with Heather McKay (am, mbe)". April 2001. Archived from the original on 22 May 2022.
  10. ^ "Heather McKay". International Tennis Federation. Archived from the original on 5 December 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  11. ^ Adrian, Colin (29 October 2020). "Celebrating ACT's seniors world champs". tennis.com.au. Archived from the original on 20 July 2023. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  12. ^ "Heather Pamela McKay" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 December 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  13. ^ Australia list: "No. 44741". The London Gazette (Supplement). 20 December 1968. p. 38.
  14. ^ a b c "Heather McKay". It's an Honour. Archived from the original on 17 June 2015. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  15. ^ "AD79" (PDF). Governor General's Office of Australia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 March 2018. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  16. ^ "Heather McKay". Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  17. ^ "Hall of Fame 1997". Team USA. Archived from the original on 23 May 2015.
  18. ^ "Hall of Fame members". Squash Australia. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  19. ^ "Australia Day Honours 2018: The full list". The Sydney Morning Herald. 26 January 2018. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
[edit]
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Premier
Lynn Adams
 No. 1 Women's Pro Racquetball Player
1980–81
1982–83 to 1983–84 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Heather_McKay&oldid=1263102461"