A moptop hairstyle, genial grin, and a gift for taking chest-high marks won McKenna adulation in the 1960s and 1970s as the game's first multimedia star.
[1] Recruited from West Heidelberg YCW, McKenna credited Collingwood coach Bob Rose for patiently helping to shape him into the champion footballer he was to become.
In the latter game, he was concussed in a collision with teammate Des Tuddenham before half time which contributed to Collingwood giving up a 44-point half-time lead.
This performance saw him and a number of teammates in round 12 dropped to the reserves against South Melbourne Football Club at VFL Park in which he suffered a kidney injury – he did not play for Collingwood again after that.
He has scored the most goals of any player to finish his career with fewer than 200 VFL/AFL games, and his goals-per-game average of 4.58 is the fifth-highest of all time.
During his football career, he recorded his first pop single Things to Remember, written by Melbourne singer/songwriter Colin Buckley.
In 1973, he published a book describing his life and career to date, and his thoughts on the VFL and Australian football in general.
[9][10] In September 2007, in an attempt to boost public awareness and support for epilepsy sufferers and their families, McKenna opened up about the three deaths in his family that had impacted him deeply over the years; those of his older sister Marie, who died after suffering an epileptic seizure just days out from McKenna's 21st birthday, and father Kevin and brother Gerard from diabetes-related illnesses.