Menu

Post image 1
Post image 2
Post image 3
Post image 4
Post image 5
Post image 6
1 / 6
0

The Fire Have Rekindled a Long-Lost WNBA History in Portland

SI·Emma Baccellieri·25 days ago
#YMPoB1C4
Reading 0:00
15s threshold

Sylvia Crawley loves a scrapbook. This is how she has preserved her basketball career, pasting in all the photographs, tucking old tickets in the pages. And for decades, her scrapbooks were all that she had to show for her time with the Portland Fire. Crawley was on the WNBA team’s inaugural roster when it debuted as an expansion franchise. She was the first player to touch the ball as an official member of the Fire—she went out for their first jump ball, in their debut game against the Houston Comets on May 31, 2000, and she won. Crawley started almost every game that season for the Fire, and the next season, and the season after, too. And that was it. The franchise disbanded when the WNBA changed its team ownership structure in 2002. Crawley and her teammates were scattered in a dispersal draft. The 6'5" center was left with only the photographs.  Sylvia Crawley (front) is finally able to relive the good old days now that the Portland Fire are back in the WNBA.…

Continue reading — create a free account

Join HashtagPLUS to read full articles, follow hashtags, vote, and join the conversation.

Read More