News Articles – 2005

Pedaling to her mettle

By Brian Meehan
The Oregonian
July 21, 2005

In the three years since the Portland Fire folded, Jackie Stiles, the franchise’s highest-profile player, has not taken a shot in the WNBA. Instead, the 2001 WNBA rookie of the year has endured 13 surgeries after never missing a game in a historic career at Southwest Missouri State. Stiles broke her body through years of overuse.
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Injuries force basketball legend to seek new challenge

By Andrew Hartsock
Associated Press
July 18, 2005

Just a few short years ago, Jackie Stiles was on top of the women’s basketball world. Stiles, the NCAA career women’s scoring leader during her phenomenal stint at Southwest Missouri State, was tapped by Portland with the No. 4 pick in the 2001 WNBA Draft. She was a WNBA All-Star her first season, as well as the league’s rookie of the year.
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Stiles still riding at top speed

By Bob Lutz
The Wichita Eagle
June 23, 2005

Jackie Stiles is 26. She has had 13 surgeries to repair body parts, some of which she didn’t know she had. She has been sidelined three years from playing professionally in the WNBA, where she was rookie of the year for the Portland Fire in 2001. But her competitive spirit still burns with as much heat as ever. So what is a person with such athletic passion — but without the ability to run or jump without pain — to do? Get into cycling, of course.
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Jackie Blue: Former SMS star still wants to play

By Kathleen Nelson
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
February 7, 2005

Almost four years ago, Jackie Stiles closed one chapter of her life and began another on the floor of Savvis Center. She said goodbye to college basketball after scoring her NCAA record 3,393rd point in Southwest Missouri State’s loss to Purdue in the semifinals of the Final Four. She opened another, which seemed destined to be just as bright. Less than a month after the Final Four, Stiles was selected fourth in the WNBA draft by the Portland Fire and by season’s end was the league’s rookie of the year.
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Former SMS star faces yet another operation

By MECHELLE VOEPEL,
Kansas City Star
January 24, 2005

LUBBOCK, Texas — You want to ask Jackie Stiles about anything else. How’s the weather here … who’s her Super Bowl pick … seen any good movies? But it’s no use. Stiles knows what the main questions will be: How are you feeling, and are you coming back to play? “It’s what everybody asks,” Stiles said, smiling ruefully while sitting in the stands after a National Women’s Basketball League game here Friday night. Stiles, a former Southwest Missouri State star, wanted to play for the Lubbock Hawks of the NWBL.
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