John J. Mesh

Here's a sports item that didn't get much attention -- the Portland Fire of the Women's National Basketball Association folded earlier this week.

Several other teams will be moving to new cities.

But with all the college football bowl games, the NFL playoffs and other major items, the fate of the WNBA kind of just flew quietly under the radar screen.

It wasn't even a blip.

Associated Press did not even report the story. I guess it wasn't big enough.

After three seasons of basketball and three months of searching for new ownership, the Portland Fire ceased operations Monday, reported the Portland Oregonian.

"We looked for other owners -- we were the only team to delay 90 days from the original deadline to keep trying," said Erin Hubert, the Blazers executive vice president, in the Oregonian's article. "But time has run out."

The decision leaves Portland without women's professional basketball for the first time in more than six years.

The now-defunct Portland Power of the American Basketball League was formed in February 1996.

In October, the Women's National Basketball Association reorganized, ending the league's ownership of teams.

The new business model also cut the ties binding the 16 WNBA teams to NBA cities. Two other franchises -- in Miami and Orlando -- have folded, and another, Utah, has been moved to San Antonio.

Portland drew an average of 8,037 fans a game last season, down from 8,604 in 2001. The league drew 2.3 million fans last season, and average attendance was 9,228 a game, an increase from 9,075 in 2001 but below the league's best years, when teams averaged more than 10,200 in 1998-99.

The Houston Comets won the first four WNBA championships and Los Angeles Sparks have won the last two.

The Fire was owned by the Portland Trailblazers, who were owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who is the third-richest man in the United States behind Bill Gates and Warren Buffet.

Despite being worth more than $40 billion himself, Allen is expected to lose more than $100 million on the Blazers this season alone.

The Fire was a mere drop in the bucket -- the team lost just $1 million a year.

Allen also owns the Seattle Seahawks of the NFL and the Rose Garden in Portland, shared by the Blazers and Fire.

The Fire was 37-59 in three seasons. Portland drafted Jackie Stiles in 2001, after she led Southwest Missouri State to the NCAA Women's Final Four.

Stiles went on to earn Rookie of the Year honors that season and was the first Portland player to be named to play in the WNBA All-Star game.

Stiles underwent surgery on her wrist following the 2001 season and then suffered a serious heel injury. The ailments cut her production dramatically from 16 to 6 points a game. She was limited to 18 minutes a game and sat out 11 games.

Stiles is not under contract for the 2003 season. It is unclear whether the WNBA would hold a dispersal draft or if she is a free agent.

It will be interesting to see if another team shows enough interest to sign the 5-foot-8 native of Claflin, Kan.

As the former sports editor of the Great Bend (Kan.) Tribune -- Great Bend is 20 miles from Claflin -- I sort of watched Jackie Stiles grow up.

Stiles scored a Kansas state record 3,603 points during her high school career and an NCAA record 3,393 points during her four seasons at Southwest Missouri State.

There's no doubut a healthy Jackie Stiles can still help a team if they sign her or acquire her rights in a dispersal draft.

Van Chancellor, the coach of the Houston Comets, said he is a big fan of Jackie Stiles. Maybe Houston would be a good fit for her.

There's always the possibility that she could move on with her life and still stay in the game.

Stiles earned a degree in sports fitness and promotions from SMS last May, and could become a coach, trainer or full-time basketball camp instructor.

And there are a lot of little girls out there with big dreams who would die for a chance to be coached by Jackie Stiles.

John J. Mesh is the sports editor of the McCook (Neb.) Daily Gazette. He watched Jackie Stiles play countless numbers of times in high school and followed up with about 12-15 college games, including her appearance with the Southwest Missouri State at the 2001 Women's NCAA Tournament Final Four in St. Louis. He can be e-mailed at sports@mccookgazette.com.