Chuck McKinley and his Mindset about Life

While Chuck McKinley was very much known for his tennis success on the Trinity University tennis team, and maybe even more so his success at the Wimbledon tournament, he also had a big impact on Trinity's campus outside of tennis. For Chuck, tennis was much more than just a sport. It was how he learned to have a mindset of positivity, determination, and grit in the face of all of life's daily struggles.

His most difficult struggle came much later in life in the form of a brain tumor diagnosis. While he could have easily become discouraged and pessimistic, he instead chose to use his love for tennis to maintain positivity and hope. When Chuck was at his lowest, and almost lost all optimism of ever fully recovering, he would think of how the only thing worse than being bed-ridden and suffering through recovery would be never playing tennis again. Tennis was what kept Chuck going, even far past his days of actually playing.

Chuck's diagnosis highlights how playing a sport can so significantly impact people’s lives. For a lot of athletes, it isn’t just about winning or being the best, it’s about the love of the sport and the happiness that it brings them. Chuck is such a good example of how the triumphs as well as the struggles of playing a sport can teach valuable lessons for your life outside of the sport. Chuck’s legacy is much more than just his tennis statistics. His legacy is about how at the end of the day, he fought harder and cared more about the game than anyone else, and he carried that mindset into everything he did.