February 29, 1980

1980Çağdaş Atan, Turkish footballer and coach^[†]

Çağdaş Atan is a Turkish football manager and a former player who played as a central defender. He is the manager of İstanbul Başakşehir of the Süper Lig. He began his career at Altay and Marmaris before playing for clubs like Denizlispor, Beşiktaş, and Trabzonspor. He also had a brief stint with Germany's Energie Cottbus. Atan joined Basel in 2009, winning domestic titles and playing in European competitions. He later played for Turkish clubs like Mersin İdman Yurdu, Akhisarspor, Gaziantep BB, and Manisaspor before retiring in 2015.

1980Simon Gagné, Canadian ice hockey player^[†]

Simon Gagné is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger. He played for the Philadelphia Flyers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Los Angeles Kings and Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL). He spent the first ten seasons of his NHL career with the Flyers (1999–2010), followed by one season with Tampa Bay (2010–11) and two with Los Angeles (2011–13), winning the Stanley Cup in 2012, before returning to Philadelphia via trade for the end of the lockout-shortened 2012–13 season. After not playing in 2013–14, Gagné signed with Boston, briefly playing for them before retiring in 2015.

1980Rubén Plaza, Spanish cyclist^[†]

Rubén Plaza Molina is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer, who competed professionally between 2001 and 2019 for the Comunidad Valenciana–Kelme, Benfica, Liberty Seguros, Movistar Team, Lampre–Merida, Orica–Scott and Israel Cycling Academy teams. During his career, he recorded a top 5 overall placing in the 2005 Vuelta a España, and won three Grand Tour stages.

1980Clinton Toopi, New Zealand rugby league player^[†]

Clinton James Te-Whata Toopi is a New Zealand former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. A New Zealand international representative centre, he played his club football in the National Rugby League for the New Zealand Warriors and the Gold Coast Titans, and in the Super League for the Leeds Rhinos. Clinton began coaching the Helensvale Hornets in 2021 and guided them to victory in the 2022 Gold Coast A Grade Competition.

1980Taylor Twellman, American soccer player and sportscaster^[†]

Taylor Timothy Twellman is an American former soccer player who played professionally from 1999 to 2010. He now works in the media as a soccer television commentator for MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.

1980Peter Scanavino, American actor (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit)^[†]

Peter Muller Scanavino is an American actor. He stars as ADA Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr. in the long-running NBC crime/legal drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

1980Yigal Allon, Israeli general and politician, Prime Minister of Israel (born 1918)^[†]

Yigal Allon was an Israeli military leader and politician. He was a commander of the Palmach and a general in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). He was also a leader of the Ahdut HaAvoda and Israeli Labor parties. He served briefly as acting Prime Minister of Israel between the death of Levi Eshkol and the appointment of Golda Meir in 1969. Allon was the first non-European-born Israeli to serve as Prime Minister of Israel. He was a government minister from the third Knesset to the ninth inclusive.

1980Gil Elvgren, American painter and illustrator (born 1914)^[†]

Gillette Alexander Elvgren was an American painter of pin-up models, advertising and illustration. Best known for his pin-up paintings for Brown & Bigelow, Elvgren studied at the American Academy of Art. He was strongly influenced by the early "pretty girl" illustrators, such as Charles Dana Gibson, Andrew Loomis, and Howard Chandler Christy. Other influences included the Brandywine School founded by Howard Pyle.