As a 16-year-old, Frank McKinney won the 100 m backstroke at the 1955 Pan American Games and was the youngest member of the team that set a new world record in the 4×100 m medley relay (with Clarke Scholes and the non-Olympians Fred McGuire and Leonide Barcke). He again won gold medals in both events at the 1959 Games (medley relay with Mike Troy, Jeff Farrell, and the non-Olympian Kenneth Nakasone). McKinney won 14 AAU titles and took two NCAA championships for Indiana University. In 1959 he twice set a world record for the 200 m backstroke and in 1960 he was a member, on two occasions, of teams which posted new world records in the medley relay. After two years as an Army intelligence officer, Frank McKinney became a banker and served as president and chairman of the board of the American Fletcher National Bank in Indianapolis.