Portrait of Kirk Penney

Birthday profile

Kirk Penney

Kirk Penney, New Zealand basketball player

Born
November 23, 1980
Age in 2026
46
Zodiac sign
Sagittarius
Birth year
1980

About Kirk Penney

Kirk Samuel Penney (born 23 November 1980) is a New Zealand former professional basketball player. He is the all-time leading scorer for New Zealand's national team and he ranks 12th all-time in points scored at the FIBA World Cup. In 2024, he was inducted in the FIBA Hall of Fame. Penney played four years of college basketball for the Wisconsin Badgers between 1999 and 2003, where he was twice named first-team all-conference and as an all-American. He became the second New Zealander in the NBA when he appeared briefly for the Miami Heat in 2003 and the Los Angeles Clippers in 2005. He went on to play professionally in Spain, the NBA Development League, Israel, Lithuania, Germany and Turkey. He also played six seasons for the New Zealand Breakers of the Australian National Basketball League (NBL). He was named the NBL MVP in 2009, named to the All-NBL First Team four times, led the NBL in scoring three times and won an NBL championship with the Breakers in 2011. Penney represented New Zealand at the Sydney and Athens Olympics and averaged 16.9 points at the World Championships in Indianapolis in 2002 and 24.7 points at the World Championships in Turkey in 2010.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

Kirk Penney timeline

  1. Penney played four years of college basketball for the Wisconsin Badgers between 1999 and 2003, where he was twice named first-team all-conference and as an all-American.
  2. He was named the NBL MVP in 2009, named to the All-NBL First Team four times, led the NBL in scoring three times and won an NBL championship with the Breakers in 2011.

The world when Kirk Penney was born

Kirk Penney was born in 1980. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1980

  • #1 song"Call Me" – Blondie
  • Top movieOrdinary People
  • Top TV showDallas
  • Best-selling bookThe Name of the Rose – Umberto Eco

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentMiracle on Ice — US hockey team beats the Soviets at Lake Placid
  • Top headlineJohn Lennon assassinated outside his New York apartment
  • Technology milestoneCNN launches as first 24-hour news channel
  • Defining fadRubik's Cube
  • Notable inventionPost-it Notes (officially released)
  • World population4.44 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderJimmy Carter
  • Sports championPhiladelphia Phillies (World Series)
  • Also wonLos Angeles Lakers (NBA)
  • U.S. population227.2M

1980 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Kirk Penney's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19802026
Gas$1.19$3.45/gal
Average home$68,700$435,000
Average income$21,023$67,500
Minimum wage$3.10$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$2.69$11.95
Postage stamp$0.15$0.73
Population227.2M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, NBA. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.