He is remembered as an undersized, hard-working dynamo, whose relentless effort and competitive spirit led American tennis to the top of the sport during a period heavily dominated by Australians.

[3] He paired with Dennis Ralston to win the 1963 Davis Cup, the only interruption in eight unbroken years of Australian dominance.

McKinley was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of a local pipe fitter, and grew up in a 'rough neighborhood' on the north side of town.

As a boy, McKinley used to drop by the local YMCA where he was taught table tennis by volunteer instructor Bill Price.

The same year, he won the singles title at the Eastern Grass Court Championships in South Orange against Frank Froehling.

[5] He won the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in 1962 and 1963, defeating Fred Stolle and Dennis Ralston in the respective finals.

[7] His intense desire to win, his habit of screaming, "Oh Charley, you missed that one," at himself after a bad shot, and the fact that he drew a four-month suspension for heaving his tennis racket into the crowd at a Davis Cup match,[8] gave him the reputation of the 'bad boy of international tennis.

He leaps, he lunges, he scrambles, he slides, he falls, he dives, he skins his elbows and knees, and he flails at the ball as if he were clubbing a rat.

According to a Sports Illustrated, “Not in years has an American fledgling combined so much box-office appeal with so much pure ability – or crashed the tight little world of big-time tennis with so much confidence.