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One of New Zealand’s most accomplished Tall Blacks, Kirk Penney, has today been announced into the 2024 class of the Fiba Hall of Fame.
The Fiba Hall of Fame is dedicated to athletes and coaches who have built the foundations of basketball, honouring the great menand women who have been outstanding in the improvement and development of the sport around the globe.
Penney easily fits the bill as a world-class athlete and global ambassador of the sport. Coming out of Westlake Boys’ High School, then going on to play at the University of Wisconsin, he first suited up for the Tall Blacks in 1999 as an 18-year-old. He went on to make 179 appearances, scoring more than 2000 points for New Zealand and developing a reputation as a dominating scorer and outside shooter.
Penney has appeared in two Olympics for New Zealand - 2000 in Sydney and 2004 in Athens - as well as multiple Fiba competitions around the world. He captained New Zealand to gold at the 2009 Fiba Oceania Championships over Australia with averages of 23.5ppg, 6.5rpg and 7apg.
But it is at World Cup level - the pinnacle event for basketballers - that Penney truly made his mark. As the only player to appear in four World Cups for New Zealand, he featured in four consecutive World Championships between 2002 and 2014.
He was part of the Tall Blacks’ memorable 2002 World Championships campaign as they finished fourth. Penney scored 16.9ppg while hitting 45.5 per cent from beyond the arc.
At the 2010 World Championships in Turkey, he opened with 37 points against powerhouses Lithuania, going on to be the second-highest scorer in the tournament with 24.7ppg.
Shooting guard Kirk Penney in action.
In 27 games played at Fiba World Cup level, Penney ranks fifth all-time in three-pointers made with 60, sixth all-time in free throws made (97), seventh all-time in field goals made (145) and the twelfth leading scorer of all-time (447).
In joining teammate Pero Cameron as only the second Kiwi to be inducted into the Fiba Hall of Fame, Penney says it is an honour and privilege.
“It’s an incredible honour for me, and probably more than anything, it’s a testament to all the hard work by a great group of people. We took enormous pride in carrying the Kiwi flag around the world,” he says.
“We shared some amazing experiences over the years and I think I was truly blessed to play with a couple of generations of really good New Zealand basketball players - and to be a part of building a foundation for future New Zealand basketball success. This honour brings back a boat load of incredible memories on the global stage with great people.”
Some of Penney’s favourite memories have come on basketball’s biggest stage; not just the on-court success but with the camaraderie and mindset of the teams he was a part of.
“Playing in the Olympics Games is so special. We’ve been able to play in a couple of them and it was really neat - something that we’ll never forget.
“Being able to compete in the semifinals in 2002 [at the Fiba World Championships] will always stand as an incredible achievement. That team was a very special team; positionally, we had all the bases covered and we had a courageous mindset.
“Any time we took down a high-level global team was really satisfying. It was always important to all of us that any time we went to a World Cup or an Olympics, that we went through to at least the knockout stages. We weren’t just a team attending, we were there to compete to try and win it all, even though no one would’ve expected it from us.
“We always felt like we could play with the best, compete with them and be in a position to win it at the end of games. That was a mentality that took years to mould. Previously, the Tall Blacks had played in one World Cup, so we had to stand on the shoulders of those before us and trailblaze a bit with that group – I think we did a great job carving a path for that next generation.”
Penney will officially be enshrined in the Fiba Hall of Fame later this year, travelling to Singapore on September 14 for the enshrinement ceremony. He will join six other players - including NBA stars Reggie Miller and Peja Stojakovic - and a coach, who are all being formally recognised for their outstanding contributions to basketball.
