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. The first official women’s World Open was held in 1979 in England, and McKay captured the inaugural title. 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. She continued on in competitive squash at international master level winning four world Championships in 1987(45), 1990(45),1993(50) and 1995(50).
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.