News Articles – July 18, 2002

By Brian Meehan
The Oregonian
July 18, 2002

In the winter of her despair, Jackie Stiles imagined the person she would be without basketball. The image scared her. Stiles had devoted her life to the game and suddenly at age 23, she was facing medical retirement. Her right wrist, which underwent surgery Sept. 11, was not healing. When the ball left her hand, she had no idea where it was going. This was chilling to a scorer accustomed to making 1,000 shots a day in practice. The pain in her right heel made matters worse. Her Achilles’ tendon was inflamed by chronic bursitis. Doctors said she would need surgery. In the past, Stiles would chase gloom by shooting baskets. But last winter, she couldn’t even do that. She was a caged bird beating herself senseless against the bars. She visited a wrist surgeon in Syracuse, N.Y., for a checkup and received gloomy news. The doctor suggested another operation. A depressed Stiles returned to Portland and found a message on her answering machine. The 10-minute monologue was from one of her heroes, cyclist Lance Armstrong. Stiles had been moved by Armstrong’s battle to overcome cancer, captured so poignantly in his book “It’s Not About the Bike.” A contact at Nike knew of Stiles’ admiration for the cyclist and asked Armstrong to call her. Armstrong told her not to relinquish hope. He told her to be patient and listen to her body. But patience is not among Stiles’ virtues. She always has been manic about fitness. In high school, she won 15 gold medals at the state track meet, winning the triple jump and the 400-, 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter races. At Southwest Missouri State, she led her underdog team to the Final Four and broke the weightroom records. She bench-pressed 155 pounds and squatted nearly 500 pounds. The message from Armstrong buoyed her. “I listened to it every day and saved it for as long as I could,” she said. But the machine finally erased the words and Stiles was left to move on herself. “I had put all my eggs in one basket,” Stiles said of her basketball obsession. “That’s why I got so depressed. I love it so much. I didn’t know what I would do without it.” For the first time in her life, the strong-willed Stiles had to rely on others. Her family provided support, as did her teammates, the Portland Fire coaching staff and trainer Kyla McDaniel. “I learned a lot of tough lessons from this whole experience,” she said. “It has already made me a lot stronger. I had to learn the hard way.” Physical therapy slowly restored her range of motion. As her wrist rebounded, so did the extraordinary touch that once saw her make 33 consecutive three-pointers during a shootaround. She felt better when she set a personal mark for free throws: she made 102 without missing. And then Tuesday, the basketball player went back to the court. Stiles was all smiles as she bounced through the Fire’s workout. She had missed the competition. She competed in four sports in high school — tennis, cross country, track and basketball — and never let down, even when playing football with her brothers. She once broke her younger brother P.J.’s arm with a hard tackle. Wednesday, she entered her first game since June 26. Stiles played 11 minutes and scored three points as the Fire beat the Phoenix Mercury 73-61. In many ways, it felt like her first game. “I had the first game jitters,” she said. “I just didn’t want to mess up the team chemistry. The No. 1 thing for me today was, Please just let us win. I didn’t want to be a jinx.” All teams should have such a jinx. Stiles’ right heel still is killing her, though you wouldn’t know it. She will block the pain for the next month and finish the season. The sweet shooter from rural Kansas knows only one speed: overdrive. And sore heel or not, this fidgety caged bird is going to fly. She simply must. You can reach Brian Meehan at 503-221-4341 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              503-221-4341      end_of_the_skype_highlighting or at brian