Frank McKinney

Frank Edward McKinney Jr. (November 3, 1938 &ndash – September 11, 1992) was a backstroke swimmer from the United States.

The son of a former owner of the NL's Pittsburgh Pirates, McKinney was the youngest member of a USA team that set a world record in the 4x100m medley relay at the 1955 Pan American Games. The sixteen-year-old high school student also won a gold medal in the 100m backstroke. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, he did the most to introduce modern backstroke techniques. Following Yoshi Oyakawa as premier U.S. backstroker, McKinney was the pioneer of the modern bent-arm backstrokers, even as Oyakawa had been the last of the straight-arm school. McKinney was the leader of a remarkable group of teenagers who won the U.S. Nationals for the Indianapolis Athletic Club alongside Mike Troy, Bill Barton, Bill Cass and Allan Sommers. Later they all swam under another famous coach, Doc Counsilman.

McKinney captured a bronze medal in the 200m backstroke at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, and then entered Indiana University. He won the NCAA 100- and 200y backstroke championships in 1959 and was a member of the winning 4x100y medley relay team in 1960.

The AAU outdoor 100m backstroke champion from 1957 through 1959, McKinney also won the indoor 220y backstroke from 1956 through 1959 and the indoor 100y backstroke in 1958.

At the 1959 Pan American Games, McKinney again won gold medals in the 100-meter backstroke and the 4 by 100-meter medley relay. He won a silver medal in the 100m backstroke at the 1960 Summer Olympics, and swam on the medley relay team that won a gold medal in a world record 4:05.4.

Post-retirement

McKinney retired from competition after graduating from Indiana in 1961 and went into banking. He was the president of Bank One of Indiana (previously American Fletcher National Bank), headquartered in Indianapolis when he died, aged 53, in a mid-air collision between two aircraft in 1992. McKinney was traveling to the Columbus, Ohio with 3 other civic leaders, who were also killed along with the pilots of both aircraft cite web |url=http://www2.indystar.com/library/factfiles/history/disasters/planecrashes.html |title=Indiana plane crashes |accessdate=2008-06-06 |date=2002-05-01 |publisher=Indianapolis Star ] . He is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.

References

* [http://www.hickoksports.com/biograph/mckinneyfrank.shtml HickokSports]