Frank McKinney

Frank Edward McKinney Jr. (November 3, 1938 – September 11, 1992) was an American competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and world record-holder. He later became a prominent executive in the American banking industry, but died in a mid-air collision of two aircraft.

McKinney was the son of Frank E. McKinney, a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and a former owner of the National League's Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball.

He was the youngest member of a U.S. national swim team which set a world record in the 4×100-meter medley relay at the 1955 Pan American Games. At the Pan American Games, the 16-year-old high school student also won a gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke.

Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, he did the most to introduce modern backstroke techniques. Following Yoshi Oyakawa as the 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 Alan Somers. Later, they would all swim for the Indiana Hoosiers swimming and diving team under coach Doc Counsilman at Indiana University.

McKinney captured a bronze medal in the men's 100-meter backstroke at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, then afterward entered Indiana University.

At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy, he received a silver medal for his second-place finish in the men's 100-meter backstroke. McKinney was traveling to Columbus, Ohio, with three other civic leaders, who were also killed along with the pilots of both aircraft. He is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery (Section 68, Lot 533) in Indianapolis.

Personal life and education McKinney earned his B.S. in 1961 and Master of Business Administration in 1962 from Indiana University.