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Portland Fire Team History

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Portland Fire




  • 2000
  • 2002
  • Portland Fire Pennant 2000

    Fire Team Creation

    By 2000, the league had expanded to 16 teams, with the Detroit Shock and Washington Mystics joining the league in 1998, the Minnesota Lynx and Orlando Miracle in 1999, and the Indiana Fever, Miami Sol, Portland Fire, and Seattle Storm in 2000.
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  • Portland Fire 2002

    Fire Close Down

    The 2002 season proved to be the Portland Fire’s swan song season, but most improved. 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 TrailBlazers team put him out of the running to buy the Fire ...
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    See Full Story

Fire Primary Logo

History of the Fire

The Portland Fire was a professional women's basketball team that played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 2000 to 2002. The franchise was founded by John Nash, owner of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers, and it was one of two expansion teams added to the league for its third season. The Fire won their first game against Los Angeles Sparks on June 10th, 2000, and finished with an overall record of 18-42 in their first two seasons combined.

The team had some notable players, such as Jackie Stiles, who led all rookies in scoring during her rookie season with 13 points per game; she also holds multiple NCAA records for most points scored throughout her college career at Southwest Missouri State University. Other memorable players include Rita Williams, who averaged 11 points per game over three seasons with Portland, and former All-Star guard Ticha Penicheiro who averaged 8 assists per contest while playing for them between 2001 -2002 before being traded away midseason due to financial difficulties faced by the organization at that time.

Despite having some talented individuals on the roster, lack of success on the court meant that attendance figures were not high enough, which eventually resulted in the franchise folding after just three years since inception despite making playoffs once during this period when they lost Conference Finals series against eventual champions Los Angeles Sparks 2–1 back in 2002. Although short-lived, the legacy left behind by this team will be remembered fondly amongst sports fans from the Pacific Northwest region forever as it gave many young female athletes a chance to showcase their skills live, nationally televised games across the United States, allowing them to pursue their dreams of becoming professional basketball player like never before!

Fire Products

2001 Ultra WNBA Basketball #20 Stacey Thomas Portland Fire
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2000 Ultra WNBA Basketball #104 Michele VanGorp Portland Fire
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2001 Ultra WNBA Basketball #84 Sophia Witherspoon Portland Fire
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2001 Ultra WNBA Basketball #54 Kristin Folkl Portland Fire
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2001 Ultra WNBA Basketball #75 DeMya Walker Portland Fire
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2000 Ultra WNBA Basketball #103 DeMya Walker RC Portland Fire
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Sylvia Crawley autographed Basketball Card (Portland Fire, WNBA) 2000 Fleer Ultra #110 - Autographed WNBA Cards
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2000 Ultra WNBA Basketball #27 Sophia Witherspoon Portland Fire
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2001 Ultra WNBA Basketball #137 LaQuanda Barksdale RC Portland Fire
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Autographed Jackie Stiles 8x10 Portland Fire WNBA photo
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Autographed Jackie Stiles 8X10 Portland Fire WNBA photo w/COA
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2000-01 Ultra WNBA #104 Michele VanGorp Portland Fire Official WNBA Basketball Trading Card From The Fleer Corp in Raw (NM NEAR MINT or Better0 Condition
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2000-01 Ultra WNBA #27 Sophia Witherspoon Portland Fire Official WNBA Basketball Trading Card From The Fleer Corp in Raw (NM NEAR MINT or Better0 Condition
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2000-01 Ultra WNBA Gold Medallion #104 Michele VanGorp Portland Fire Official WNBA Basketball Trading Card From The Fleer Corp in Raw (NM NEAR MINT or Better0 Condition
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2000-01 Ultra WNBA Gold Medallion #107 Michelle Marciniak Portland Fire Official WNBA Basketball Trading Card From The Fleer Corp in Raw (NM NEAR MINT or Better0 Condition
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2000-01 Ultra WNBA Gold Medallion #27 Sophia Witherspoon Portland Fire Official WNBA Basketball Trading Card From The Fleer Corp in Raw (NM NEAR MINT or Better0 Condition
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2000-01 Ultra WNBA Gold Medallion #103 DeMya Walker Portland Fire Official WNBA Basketball Trading Card From The Fleer Corp in Raw (NM NEAR MINT or Better0 Condition
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2000-01 Ultra WNBA Gold Medallion #110 Sylvia Crawley Portland Fire Official WNBA Basketball Trading Card From The Fleer Corp in Raw (NM NEAR MINT or Better0 Condition
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2000-01 Ultra WNBA Gold Medallion #117 Jamila Wideman Portland Fire Official WNBA Basketball Trading Card From The Fleer Corp in Raw (NM NEAR MINT or Better0 Condition
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2000-01 Ultra WNBA #119 Alisa Burras RC Rookie Card Portland Fire Official WNBA Basketball Trading Card From The Fleer Corp in Raw (NM NEAR MINT or Better0 Condition
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2000-01 Ultra WNBA #103 DeMya Walker RC Rookie Card Portland Fire Official WNBA Basketball Trading Card From The Fleer Corp in Raw (NM NEAR MINT or Better0 Condition
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2000-01 Ultra WNBA #107 Michelle Marciniak RC Rookie Card Portland Fire Official WNBA Basketball Trading Card From The Fleer Corp in Raw (NM NEAR MINT or Better0 Condition
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1999 Fleer Ultra WNBA #109 Tari Phillips RC Rookie Card Portland Fire Official Basketball Card in Raw (NM or Better) Condition
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1999 Fleer Ultra WNBA #105 Natalie Williams RC Rookie Card Portland Fire Official Basketball Card in Raw (NM or Better) Condition
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Autograph Warehouse 291338 2000 Fleer Ultra Sylvia Crawley Autographed No.110 Basketball Card - Portland Fire, WNBA
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Established
2000

City
Portland

League History
2000 – 2002 / Women’s National Basketball Association

Team History
2002 – 2002 / Portland Fire

Nickname
Fire – The Portland Fire is a professional Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Oregon. The franchise was founded in 2000 and has since become one of the most successful teams in the league, reaching multiple WNBA Finals appearances. But what many fans may not know is that the team’s nickname has an exciting story behind it.

When Portland first announced its expansion into the WNBA, it held a contest to decide on its official name and logo design. After much deliberation, they chose “Fire” as their nickname due to its strong ties with Oregon’s history and culture. Fire played an essential role for Native Americans who lived throughout this region long before settlers arrived centuries ago; the fire was used for warmth during cold winters, cooking food, and providing light at night hours when no other illumination sources were available back then!

Additionally, members from local tribes would often use smoke signals or bonfires to communicate with each other over large distances - something which also inspired part of Portland Fire's logo design today! As you can see from these examples alone – even though it might seem like just another sports mascot at first glance – there are some profound meanings associated with why this particular name was chosen by those who created it all those years ago...

Championship
WNBA Championships 0

Arena
2000 – 2002 / Rose Garden Arena

Owner
2000 – 2002 / Paul Allen

Who is the greatest Portland Fire?
  • Add your greatest player

To qualify as the greatest player for this team, the player must have played one season for this team. If not, we will remove the player.
* verifies that player has played for this team as an added player by a fan.

Retired Number

*Blue is this team’s history

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