Kenneth D. Brunner II (born December 8, 1978) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

coach and former player. Brunner played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Georgetown Hoyas The Georgetown Hoyas are the collegiate athletics teams that officially represent Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C. Georgetown's athletics department fields 23 men's and women's varsity level teams and competes at the National C ...

and the Southern Idaho Golden Eagles.

Early life

Bruner was born on December 8, 1978, in

Los Angeles California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. His father was an alcoholic and his mother was a drug addict so Bruner was raised primarily by his grandmother in

Inglewood, California Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 107,762. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. The city is in the South Bay ...

. He first played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

but transitioned to

at the encouragement of his grandmother. To further develop his potential, Brunner was encouraged to attend

Dominguez High School Manuel Dominguez High School is a four-year public high school located in Compton, California. It is part of the Compton Unified School District. Name Dominguez High School is named after Don Manuel Domínguez, a California rancher. Domínguez in ...

Compton, California Compton is a city in southern Los Angeles County, California, United States, situated south of downtown Los Angeles. Compton is one of the oldest cities in the county and, on May 11, 1888, was the eighth city in Los Angeles County to incorporat ...

– an hour-long bus ride away from his home but where he created a reputation by playing

streetball Streetball (or street basketball) is a variation of basketball, typically played on outdoor courts and featuring significantly less formal structure and enforcement of the game's rules. As such, its format is more conducive to allowing players ...

. Bruner was considered the nation's top

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

during his senior season. He committed to play

for the

Fresno State Bulldogs The Fresno State Bulldogs are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent California State University, Fresno (commonly referred to as Fresno State). The university is a member of NCAA Division I's Mountain West Conference (MW). It was a ...

but rescinded his offer when the Bulldogs received

point shaving In organized sports, point shaving is a type of match fixing where the perpetrators try to change the final score of a game without changing who wins. This is typically done by players colluding with gamblers to prevent a team from covering a p ...

allegations in March 1997.

College career

Brunner began his college career at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

during the 1997–98 season. He started all 19 games he played for the Hoyas and averaged 11.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 7.3 assists; his assist count would have ranked seventh nationally if had played in enough games to qualify. He still holds the Hoyas' career assist average record. In early February 1998, Brunner was held out of the line-up for "personal reasons". On February 8, 1998, Brunner met with Hoyas head coach John Thompson and quit the team. Brunner flew to

Fresno State University California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bache ...

and enrolled on the last day of registration for the spring semester. Five weeks after his registration, he was sitting out the semester as a transfer when he and teammate Avondre Jones were indefinitely suspended from the team for the robbery and assault of a Fresno State student with the use of a

samurai sword A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the ''tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge fa ...

. Brunner denied he was involved; a judge dismissed the charges as an escalation of " horsing around". On May 24, 1998, Brunner was arrested on suspicion of

armed robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...

when he allegedly held up

Los Angeles City College Los Angeles City College (LACC) is a public community college in East Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. A part of the Los Angeles Community College District, it is located on Vermont Avenue south of Santa Monica Boulevard on the former campus ...

basketball coach Mike Miller at gunpoint inside the school's gymnasium. Brunner was held in the

LA County Jail The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD), officially the County of Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, is a law enforcement agency serving Los Angeles County, California. LASD is the largest sheriff's department in the United States a ...

for four months until the charges were dropped two days before the trial. He enrolled at

Santa Monica Junior College Santa Monica College (SMC) is a public, community college in Santa Monica, California. Founded as a junior college in 1929, SMC enrolls over 30,000 students in more than 90 fields of study. Although initially serving primarily pre-college high s ...

but left without playing a game. Brunner transferred to play for the Southern Idaho Golden Eagles for the 1999–2000 season, where he averaged 14.2 points a game. He signed a

letter of intent A letter of intent (LOI or LoI, or Letter of Intent) is a document outlining the understanding between two or more parties which they intend to formalize in a contract, legally binding agreement. The concept is similar to a Heads of agreement ( ...

to play for the

Georgia Bulldogs The Georgia Bulldogs are the athletic teams that represent the University of Georgia. The female athletic teams are sometimes referred to as Lady Bulldogs. The Bulldogs compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference ( ...

under coach

Jim Harrick James Richard Harrick (born July 25, 1938) is a former American basketball coach. He has been the head coach at UCLA, Pepperdine University, the University of Rhode Island and the University of Georgia over a combined total of 23 seasons. During ...

, but his scholarship offer was overruled by the school's president when his official academic transcripts were not submitted by the deadline. Brunner instead enrolled at

Salem International University Salem University is a private for-profit university in Salem, West Virginia. It has about 250 students on campus and about 600 online students that are enrolled in undergraduate as well as graduate programs. The university was founded by the Sev ...

for the 2000–01 season but did not play and left to pursue a professional career.

Professional career

Brunner began his professional career with the San Diego Wildfire of the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger, American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, ...

and averaged 15.3 points, 3.6 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game. He broke his leg and injured his knee which led to him playing exhibition basketball while he recovered. Brunner toured with the

AND1 Live Tour The AND1 Live Tour, formerly known as the AND1 Mixtape Tour, is a traveling basketball competition and exhibition presented by B-Ball and Company and the basketball apparel manufacturer AND1. A group of streetball players, along with Emcee Rell ...

across Europe and Asia in 2003 and 2004 as he earned the nicknames "Bad Santa" and "The Bad One". Brunner played professionally in Europe, Mexico and Australia. His final stint was in Australia in 2009 when he tore a ligament in his bone and forced his retirement.

Coaching career

Brunner served as the Director of Coaching for the Western Port Steelers from 2011 to 2013. He left the team due to family reasons in 2013 but returned as head coach on a three-year deal in 2014. Brunner has run coaching clinics for children in

Melbourne, Victoria Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung–Taungurung language, Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the St ...

and in

Fitzroy Crossing Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to: People As a given name *Several members of the Somerset family (Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name: ** FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855) ** Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Bea ...

in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

Personal life

Brunner has three sons.

Awards and achievements

*2009 Las Vegas PRO-AM Champions (Spice1) *2008 Eurobasket Summer League Champions (Sevilla) *2007 Southern California NBA Summer Pro League Champions and All-League Selection (Play2Win Delta Jammers) *2006 Southern California NBA Summer Pro League Champions and All-League Selection (Delta Jammers-Play2Win) * 2006 ABA Western Conference All-Star Team (SoCal Legends) * 2005 Southern California NBA Summer Pro League Champions – MVP (Play2Win-Delta Jammers) * 2005 Mexican CIBACOPA All-Star game (Cañeros de Navolato) * 2004 NBA Southern California SPL All-Star team * 2002 Drafted by NBDL

Asheville Altitude Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad River, French Broad and Swannanoa River, Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and ...

(14th round 3rd pick) * 2000 NJCAA National Tournament * 2000 Region XVIII tournament finalists (Southern Idaho) * 2000 Second Team Scenic West Conference All-Region (Southern Idaho)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brunner, Kenny 1978 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Asheville Altitude players ABA All-Star Game players Basketball players from Compton, California BG Karlsruhe players Fresno State Bulldogs men's basketball players Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Point guards Salem Tigers men's basketball players Santa Monica College alumni Southern Idaho Golden Eagles men's basketball players Sportspeople from Compton, California