Heather McKay AO MBE (b. 1941), squash champion, dominated the game worldwide for sixteen years and was the first to be inducted into the Women's International Squash Players Association Hall of Fame. The eighth of eleven children, who were all interested in sport, McKay grew up in Queanbeyan and played tennis in summer and hockey in winter. Selected to play hockey for Australia while at high school, she took up squash at seventeen to maintain her fitness. In 1960, the year after she first played squash, she won the first of her fourteen Australian Amateur Championships; from 1961 to 1973 she won the NSW Championships and the Victorian Championships. From 1967 to 1971 she was also a member of the Australian women's hockey team. Beaten only twice at squash in her entire career, she won the British Open titles every year from 1962 to 1977. She turned professional in January 1976, winning the inaugural Women's World Open Squash Championship in 1976 before moving to Toronto to coach. While this move barred her from defending her British Open Title, she managed to win the Women's World Open Squash Championships and the US Amateur Women's Racquetball titles in 1979. In 1980–1981 and 1983–1984 she was the USA Women's Professional Racquetball Champion. On her return to Australia in 1985 she helped to create the Australian Institute of Sport squash unit, and was assistant AIS coach for squash in Brisbane for 13 years. In 2000 McKay was recognised as a Legend in the Australian Sports Hall of Fame. Tennis is also an important part of McKay's life and since 2000 she has won nine Australian seniors singles titles and four doubles titles. In 2001 she won the ITF World Veterans’ Championship in the 60+ age group. Now in her eighties, McKay still plays tennis to keep fit.
