Heather McKay

Heather McKay
Full name	Heather Pamela McKay
Country	Australia
Born	(1941-07-31) 31 July 1941 Queanbeyan
Retired	1979
Women's Singles
Highest ranking	1
World Open	W (1976, 1979)
Last updated on: 20 December 2011.

Heather Pamela McKay (née Blundell) AM MBE (born on 31 July 1941) is a retired Australian squash player, who is considered by many to be the greatest female player in the history of the game, and possibly also Australia's greatest-ever sportswoman. She dominated the women's squash game in the 1960s and 1970s, winning 16 consecutive British Open titles between 1962 and 1977, and capturing the inaugural women's World Open title in 1979, whilst remaining undefeated during that period. She was also a top-level player of other sports, including field hockey and racquetball.

Career

Heather Blundell was born in Queanbeyan, New South Wales. As Heather McKay, she completely dominated the sport of women's squash in the 1960s and '70s. She lost only two matches in her entire career (in 1960 and 1962), and was unbeaten in competitive squash matches from 1962 through to 1981, when she retired from active open squash.

McKay won her first British Open (considered to be the effective world championship of the sport at the time) in 1962. She then won it again every year for the next 15 consecutive years, losing only two games at the championship during that time. She usually won her finals matches comfortably. In the 1968 championship, she won the final against her compatriot Bev Johnson without dropping a point.

In 1976, an unofficial world championship known as the Women's World Squash Championship was held in Brisbane, which McKay won by defeating Marion Jackman in the final 9–2, 9–2, 9–0. The first official women's World Open was held in 1979 in England, and McKay captured the inaugural title with a 6–9, 9–3, 9–1, 9–4 win over Sue Cogswell in the final.

McKay also won the Australian Amateur Championships for 14 consecutive times from 1960 to 1973.

When she retired in 1981 at the age of 40, McKay had gone nearly 20 years undefeated (with the only two defeats to her name occurring at the beginning of her career). Since retiring from the top-level game, she has remained active in international Masters level events, and has won two over-45 world championship titles and two over-50 world championship titles.

Heather also proved to be a talent in other sports, including field hockey, where she was a member of the Australian Women's Hockey Team in 1967 and 1971. In racquetball, she won the American Amateur Racquetball Championship once (1979), the American Professional Racquetball Championship three times (1980–81 and 1984), and the Canadian Racquetball Championship five times (1980 and 1982–85). She was inducted into the USA Racquetball Hall of Fame in 1997.

She was a teaching professional at the Toronto Squash Club in the 80s. She worked with up and comer David Wright in an intensive Junior Program.

World Open

Finals: 2 (2 titles, 0 runner-up)

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

British Open

Finals: 16 (16 titles, 0 runner-up)

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

Note: Competed as Heather Blundell from 1962 to 1965.

After retirement

McKay was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1969, and a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1979. She was also awarded the Australian Sports Medal in 2000. She was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985.^[1]

McKay wrote a book, Heather McKay's Complete Book of Squash, which was released in 1979. Staying active in squash, she was named coach of the Australian Institute of Sport's Squash Division in 1985. In 1999 she was one of the founder members of the Women's International Squash Players Association Hall of Fame, of which she herself was one of the first to be inducted.

McKay was featured on the front cover of the 2006 Sensis White Pages for the Canberra, Queanbeyan and Yass regions.^[2]

See also

• List of WISPA number 1 ranked players
• Official Women's Squash World Ranking
• Women's Professional Racquetball Organization

Footnotes

External links

• Page at Squashpics.com
• Australian Australian Women’s Archives Project; life and career
• Whatever happened to squash? Radio National interview