McKinley played at tight end for Western Michigan University's football team, was named to WMU's All Century Football Team in 2005[2] and was inducted into the WMU Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992.[3]
McKinley started McKinley Financial Services, Inc., in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The company has become one of the largest minority insurance agencies in the United States with over 50 agents and staff. He was awarded the 2007 Distinguished Alumni Award from Western Michigan University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in 1966.[6]
Heritage Bowl
In 1991, McKinley formulated the idea of the Heritage Bowl, an annual college football bowl game matching up two Division I-AA teams left out of the division's playoff system.[7] McKinley served as the bowl's executive director in its first years. Despite massive financial losses,[8] poor attendance,[8] protests from neighborhood residents,[9] and a lack of television coverage in its first year,[10] the bowl continued to be played every year until 1999, when the game was discontinued.
