The Nugget: Brendon Pongia

With a potent mixture of Maori (Ngāpuhi), Scottish and Irish blood, and being one of 53 grandchildren, Brendon Pongia was always going to lead a colourful life.

He grew up in Greymouth, dreaming of emulating his grandfather – a tough league player who represented the Kiwis in the late ‘30s.

However, it was basketball that became his ticket to see the world - literally - as a Tall Black, being part of the first team to beat Australia in a series. This qualified them for the 2002 World Championships in the USA where, against all odds, they finished fourth, and captured the entire country’s hearts.

Brendon reckons playing against some of the world’s best players was awesome but also pretty nerve racking. Still that paled in comparison to walking out in front of a million people to show off his just-learned, bullfight-inspired Paso Doble, in the televised live semi-final of Dancing with the Stars.

While his fancy footwork on the court put him in good stead for some slick moves on the dance floor, Brendon reckons it’s the scariest thing he’s ever done in his life. Rumours of him still waking up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat believing he actually has two left feet, refuse to be confirmed by his wife. Well, on the record anyway.

Still, he loved the experience and it’s led directly to his latest challenge as Business Development Manager for Cure Kids, his chosen charity on the show. Cure Kids goal is to fund life-saving and life-improving child health research. Brendon’s job is ‘to go round hat-in-hand encouraging generous donors to make this happen’.

He always arrives to meetings looking sharp in his 3 Wise Men gear; including this pink gingham Kemble shirt ($120 or 3 for 3 hundy), slim-fit navy Shortland pants ($120 or 3 for 3 hundy) and these Bertie Regulate brogues in black or tan ($230).

Brendon also gets to see first-hand the effects money raised has on some truly incredible children. As a dad himself, he believes that when you’re having a bad day, it puts everything into perspective.

Brendon’s motto has always been to get involved and give back. Here’s some more stuff we got him to give us for you to read. Enjoy.