It didn’t take long for Jackie Stiles to be recognized after returning to Portland, OR. Shortly after touching down in PDX this past winter, the former shooting guard, who called the city home for two years, elected to grab a quick drink to quench her thirst before meeting up with some friends for dinner. A local Target held an array of options. And after two decades spent away from the Pacific Northwest, getting recognized was the last thing on her mind. But before she could even enter the store, a voice from the other side of the closed automatic doors rang out.
“Jackie Stiles? The ponytail assassin?”
Nearly 24 years after Stiles was zipping past the W’s best and fading into picturesque middies inside of the Rose Garden—now known as the Moda Center—the W’s 2001 Rookie of the Year was immediately met with a living reminder of her impact across the City of Roses. Portland remembers.
This past January, Stiles was back in the PNW to help tell the story of a once-forgotten franchise and its revival. She thought that legacy, along with the one she had created for herself in the early 2000s, had been washed away like shells on the Oregon coast. Except the city that’s held an unyielding love and passion for the local women’s sports scene never forgot the impact of No. 10. If anything, they’ve been waiting for this return.
Surrounded by a sold-out 300-person event aboard the Portland Spirit, Stiles, Portland executives and fans looked out onto the calm Willamette River where a barge on the opposite bank proudly displayed an official look at the Portland Fire’s white threads for the 2026 season.
“This is amazing,” Stiles remembers saying at the time. “This just does not happen everywhere. It is so cool to see.”
Jared ebanks 