Kirk Samuel Penney (born 23 November 1980) is a New Zealand former professional basketball player. During an outstanding college career with the University of Wisconsin, Penney helped the Badgers to an NCAA Final Four his freshman year and a Sweet Sixteen in his senior year along with two Big 10 conference titles, and was twice named first team all-conference and an all-American. He is in the University of Wisconsin Hall of Fame. He represented New Zealand at the Sydney and Athens Olympics and averaged 16.9 points at the World Championships at Indianapolis in 2002 and 24.7 points at the World Championships at Turkey in 2010. He became the second Kiwi in the NBA when he appeared briefly for the Miami Heat in 2003 and the Los Angeles Clippers in 2005, and went on to play professionally in Spain, the NBA Development League, Israel, Lithuania, Germany and Turkey. In 2007, he joined the New Zealand Breakers of the Australian National Basketball League (NBL). In 2009, he was named the NBL MVP, and in 2011, he won his first championship with the Breakers.\n', '

Born in the Auckland suburb of Milford, Penney attended Westlake Boys High School and played junior basketball for the North Harbour Basketball Association, joining their New Zealand NBL team, the North Harbour Kings, in 1998 as a 17-year-old. He earned NZNBL Rookie of the Year honours that year and helped the Kings reach the grand final. He played a further season for the Kings in 1999 before leaving for the United States to begin his college career with the University of Wisconsin.\n', '

As a freshman playing for the Wisconsin Badgers during the 1999–2000 season, Penney had a minimal role under coach Dick Bennett, but still helped his team reach the NCAA Final Four while averaging 3.7 points and 1.4 rebounds in 34 games. He returned to New Zealand following his freshman season and re-joined the North Harbour Kings. He played just six games for the Kings before returning to Wisconsin to prepare for his sophomore season. As a sophomore in 2000–01, he averaged 11.2 points per game and was the second-leading scorer on the team.\n', '

Return to Kirk Penney Autograph Profile