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To culminate the reveal of the 2026 uniforms, the Portland Fire displayed a giant version of their white “Heroine” jersey on a barge in the Willamette River right in front of the Fremont Bridge.
Displaying the jersey over the river was intentional, as the Willamette River was featured heavily in the team’s design choices.
During a panel aboard the Portland Spirit, Clare Hamill, the team’s interim president, said the patches on the sides of the jersey are curved in a way that represent the Willamette.
That same pattern appears in the new “PDX” logo that was also released on Wednesday morning. Between the “P” and the “D” is space that resembles the shapes on the sides of the jerseys.
“We talked a lot about being intentional around Portland,” Hamill said.
Hamill wore a black Jackie Stiles Portland Fire jersey at Wednesday’s event as she sat on a panel with general manager Vanja Černivec and Stiles herself.
Stiles was the No. 4 pick by the Fire in the 2001 WNBA Draft and was an immediate game changer for the franchise. She made 40.6% of her 3-pointers and averaged 11.4 points per game. She is still No. 12 in the WNBA’s career 3-point percentage leaderboard.
Hamill said the new jerseys and the use of the Fire name were an intentional way for the team to pay tribute to the team that ran from 2000-2002 while also looking forward to the team’s future in the WNBA.
“So we want to honor the past and the legacy of the original Fire and then move to the future with the spirit of Portland,” Hamill said. “We feel really good about the jerseys. I think they’re going to look great.”
Hamill added that the Fire are set to wear the white “Heroine” jerseys when they debut on May 9 against the Chicago Sky.
When the team takes the court, Stiles said she wants to see the Fire make their mark on the city.
“Our greatness is not in what we have, it’s what we give,” said the Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer. “And I hope everybody’s so unselfish, doesn’t care who gets the credit. It’s all about coming together for a cause bigger than yourself. And, you know, we want to make this community proud. And I just hope that they know that they are great role models to the city.”
