Posted Mar. 07, 2002

A Penney discerned

Badgers guard’s talent evident from beginning

By Matthew Cross
Post-Crescent staff writer

MADISON — Youth basketball league coach Kurt Dammers knew several years ago what most people didn’t understand until a few months ago.

He knew that Kirk Penney, a junior guard on the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team, would be a star in the Big Ten.

And Dammers, who discovered Penney in the dingy and ill-equipped gyms of New Zealand, predicted the youngster’s success when Penney signed with the Badgers.

“He said, ‘I bet you, by his junior year, he’s going to be all-Big Ten,’ ” UW assistant coach Tony Bennett said. “I said, ‘Maybe,’ because I wasn’t sure.”

On Tuesday, Penney was named first-team all-Big Ten by both the coaches and the media. He became the first Badger to earn such a distinction since Michael Finley in 1993.

After receiving word of his honor, Penney reflected on all those who have played major roles in his success, from Dammers to Bennett to his dad and on down the line.

They taught him the ropes. They shot 300 jumpers a day with him after practice and showed him the importance of a quick release. They made sure he would have a chance.

As UW prepares for its Big Ten tournament opener Friday at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Penney says he knows he’ll be the focal point for opponents’ defenses.

He can’t wait for the challenge.

“We’ve got some things that we can do that can be very, very exciting,” he said. “When the season is done, I’ll look at my goals and see how I’ve matched up, but right now, I’m looking forward to Friday.”

Penney’s story starts when he met Dammers, an American, about nine years ago. Dammers spotted a 12-year-old kid with raw talent and, most important, an undying will to improve.

Since Dammers coached a youth league team in New Zealand and worked closely with a club team in North Harbor, where Bennett played and coached in the late 1990s, he arranged for Penney to show off for Bennett one day after practice.

Bennett immediately invited him to practice with the club team, which consisted mostly of older players who had about the same talent level as a mid-major Division-I college team.

Bennett said that even then Penney had a smooth jumper and could put the ball on the floor to create shots, but the club-team experience forced Penney to grow up quick.

“The kid was just a sponge,” Bennett said. “He soaked everything up.

“The intangibles were uncanny. He had great poise about him, and he wasn’t fazed by playing against 25-year-olds. He just always had that calmness, that poise about him that I think is pretty evident today.”

The rest of the story has been a subtle, yet quick rise to the top.

Penney has played in the Olympics, the Goodwill Games, the Final Four and on a Big Ten championship team.

With the Badgers, he’s on pace to break the 1,000-point milestone by the first month of next season.

Throughout his rise, Penney has managed to remain remarkably humble yet maintain a quiet confidence. He doesn’t want to take the spotlight. Instead, he deflects praise onto his teammates and mentors.

He says he owes most of his success to Dammers and Bennett, who he said taught him everything he knows about basketball and about being a good person.

“It’s hard to say how much they mean to you because you just thank them so much,” Penney said. “You just want to try to do the same thing for someone else, just pass it on and help someone else out and be a role model.”

Bennett has watched closely, almost like an older brother, as Penney has taken his game to new levels.

The two share a bond because of their history, and Bennett marvels at how Penney has grown into one of the best players in the Big Ten.

Tuesday morning, Bennett wrote Penney a note to inform him that he was named first-team all-conference and express his joy in watching it happen. Penney was touched by the sentiments. But for Bennett, the pleasure is all his.

“I’m proud of the whole team, the coaching staff and everybody,” Bennett said. “But with the relationship that Kirk and I have from awhile ago, I’m happy for him to see it go like this.”

Penney’s ability to shoot used to be what carried him, but now he’s a complete player. His all-conference honor is a the latest example of how far he has come since growing up in those tiny gyms in New Zealand.

“I’ve just always tried to remember where I come from and the person I aspire to be,” he said. “I remember my mentors and what they’ve done for me. And I just enjoy it along the way.”

Matthew Cross can be reached by e-mail at mcross@appleton.gannett.com.