The Dallas Wings is a professional women’s basketball team that is based in Arlington, Texas. The team plays in the Western Conference of the Women’s National Basketball Association or WNBA. Today, the team is owned by a group that is led by Chairman Bill Cameron. This franchise has been home to famous players such as Katie Smith, Deanna Nolan, Cheryl Ford, Liz Cambage, Odyssey Sims, and Skylar Diggins-Smith. In this article, we are going to know more about the history of the Dallas Wings.
The Detroit Shock Era
The Dallas Wings was founded in 1998, and back then, they were one of the first WNBA expansion teams, and they were known as The Detroit Shock. The group quickly brought in a nice blend of rookies and veterans. However, they only got qualified for the postseason once in their five years of existence. During this time, the team went through two coaches, namely Nancy Lieberman and Greg Williams, before they hired Bill Laimbeer. Back in 2002, some experts said the team would fold after their last awful season. Still, Laimbeer convinced the team’s owner to keep them for another year because he is certain that he could turn things around. During the 2003 WNBA finals, the Shock had a 25-9 record, and they managed to defeat the Los Angeles Sparks, who happens to be a two-time defending champion. This made Detroit the first team in league history to go from the last place in one season to WNBA champions on the next season.
After several seasons of losing in the first round of the playoffs, the team managed to return to success, and they appeared in three straight Finals from 2006 to 2008. In 2006, the Detroit Shock managed to win the WNBA championship against the Sacramento Monarchs and in 2008 versus the San Antonio Silver Stars.
The Tulsa Shock Era
In 2010, there had been a mention of Tulsa being a possible future city for the WNBA expansion. However, efforts did not come together until mid-2009. A group of politicians, along with an organizing committee with Tulsa business people, started an effort to attract an expansion team. Initially, the group was given a September 1 deadline. Still, WNBA President Donna Orender decided to extend the deadline up until October of 2009. That is why, after that, the investment group decided to hire former University of Arkansas head coach Nolan Richardson to be the potential franchise’s head coach and general manager. On October 15, 2009, the group decided to pass their official request to join the league. Five days later, Donna Orender lead investors David Box, Bill Cameron, along with Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor, and Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry were all present at the press conference where the league announced that the Detroit Shock would move more to Tulsa. Aside from that, they also told that the team would still be called the Shock, but their uniform color will be changed to red, black, and gold color. In July 2015, Bill Cameron announced that he decided to move the team to Dallas-Foth Worth.
The Dallas Wings
In July 20115, the WNMBA League owners decided to approve the team’s relocation to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and play out of the College Park Center, which is located at the University of Texas at Arlington. And during the press conference that was held at College Park Center in November 2015, the owners of the team announced that they are going to rename the team like the Dallas Wings.
Interesting Facts About The Dallas Wings
- The Wing’s logo has a close tie to the Dallas Mavericks logo – Most of us probably didn’t know that the WNBA logos are designed to complement the logos of their NBA counterpart. That is why the Wing’s logo has a Pegasus-styled horse mascot, which is a nod to the Maverick’s horse, and it also has a blue color, which happens to be the Maverick’s color.
- Watch the Dallas Wings’ game in a group to experience some cool perks – Not only do the Wings give you a discounted price for groups of ten or more, but each of them comes with a very cool bonus when you can get the chance to hit the court for a post-game shot, perform the national anthem, or just to a high five with one of the Wing’s players.
- The Dallas Wings have their own dance team – This dance team is named the Flight Deck, and it is a male-female group of best hip-hop dancers.
- The Wings have a Ball Kids program – If you have a kid and you would like them to experience what is happening on the side of the court while the game is happening, then you should try enrolling them to the Wings’ Ball Kids program where they can help the team during timeouts and rebounding before the game and during halftime.
- You can do plenty of things before and after a Wings game – Do not worry about having a dull time waiting for the game to start or looking for something to do right after the game. There are several restaurants and bars located at College Park Center and Downtown Arlington that you can check out.