- Portland Fire
WNBA team
color1 = #990000
color2 = #FFFFFF
name = Portland Fire
imagesize = 150px
conference = Western Conference
founded =2000
folded =2002
arena =Rose Garden
city =Portland, Oregon
colors = Red, Black, Gold, White
league_champs = None
conf_champs = NoneThe Portland Fire joined the
Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) in2000 as the counterpart to the NBA team thePortland Trail Blazers . They played their games at Rose Garden inPortland, Oregon . The team folded after the2002 season. Until theChicago Sky joined the league, they were the only WNBA team that had never made the playoffs.Uniforms
At home, white with red on the sides and gold on the shoulders, black Fire logo text on the chest. On the road, black with red on the sides and gold on the shoudlers, Fire logo text in white. The shorts had the Fire logo on them..
History
In its short history, the Portland Fire franchise held some of the more dubious distinctions among WNBA franchises. Founded in
2000 ,Portland Trail Blazers ownerPaul Allen served as the team's chairman. Led byVanessa Nygaard andSylvia Crawley , the team managed a 10-22 win-loss record in their inaugural season. In the2001 season, the team faced another losing season but found hope in the play of rookie guardJackie Stiles , who would win theWNBA Rookie of the Year Award . However, in2002 Stiles suffered a severe injury and was out for most of the season. Without their star player, the Fire faced another losing campaign.The 2002 season proved to be the Portland Fire's last. After this season, the WNBA sold ownership of their franchises to owners of their counterpart NBA teams or to third parties. Fire chairman Paul Allen's continued financial problems with what was seen league-wide as an underachieving Trail Blazers team put him out of the running to buy the Fire franchise and led to the Portland Fire folding in 2002. With this, the Fire became the only WNBA franchise not to make the playoffs and along with the
Miami Sol , the WNBA franchise with the shortest lifespan.eason-by-season records
-
colspan="6" align=center bgcolor="#990000" | Portland Fire
-
2000 || 10 || 22 || .313 || |
-
2001 || 11 || 21 || .344 || |
-
2002 || 16 || 16 || .500 || |
-
Totals || 37 || 59 || .385 |
###@@@KEYEND@@@###Roster
The following have been listed on the Fire roster:
Coaches and others
Head Coaches:
*Linda Hargrove (2000-2002), now serves as the General Manager of theWashington Mystics External links
* [http://www.wnba.com WNBA website]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.