Dallas Wings

Updated on Jan 26, 2024

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Leagues WNBA General manager Greg Bibb Head coach Fred Williams Conference Western Conference		President Mary O'Connor Mascot Volt the Shock Fox Founded 1998

History Detroit Shock 1998–2009 Tulsa Shock 2010–2015 Dallas Wings 2016–present Team colors Navy, green, cyan, white Main sponsor Baylor, Scott and White Arenas/Stadiums BOK Center, College Park Center Owners Bill Cameron, Chris Christian Locations Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States, Arlington, Texas, United States Profiles Twitter

The Dallas Wings are a professional basketball team based in Arlington, Texas. The Wings play in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded in Detroit, Michigan before the 1998 WNBA season began; the team moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma before the 2010 season; then moved to Dallas prior to the start of the 2016 season. The team is owned by an ownership group which is led by Bill Cameron. Bill Cameron is Chairman, Chris Christian is Vice Chairman, and Mary O'Connor is President. On July 20, 2015, Cameron announced that the franchise would move to Arlington, Texas for the 2016 WNBA season.

The franchise has been home to many high-quality players such as athletic shooting guard Deanna Nolan, one of women's basketball's all-time leading scorers Katie Smith, former NBA great Karl Malone's daughter Cheryl Ford, Skylar Diggins, Odyssey Sims, and young Australian center Liz Cambage.

The Detroit Shock (1998–2009)

The Shock were one of the first WNBA expansion teams and began play in 1998. The Shock quickly brought in a blend of rookies and veterans, but only qualified for the postseason once in its first five years of existence. The Shock went through two coaches (hall of famer Nancy Lieberman and Greg Williams) before hiring former Detroit Pistons legend Bill Laimbeer. There were rumors the Shock would fold after the team's awful 2002 season. Laimbeer convinced the owners to keep the team for another year, certain that he could turn things around. The Shock would finish the next season with a 25–9 record and defeated the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Sparks in the 2003 WNBA Finals. Detroit became the first team in league history to go from last place one season to WNBA champions the next season.

After a couple seasons of losing in the first round of the playoffs after a poorly chosen shot by point guard Alex Cambell, the Detroit Shock returned to success and would appear in three straight Finals from 2006 to 2008. They won WNBA championship in 2006 over the Sacramento Monarchs and 2008 over the San Antonio Silver Stars, but lost to the Phoenix Mercury in 2007.

The Tulsa Shock (2010–2015)

Tulsa had been mentioned as a possible future city for WNBA expansion, but efforts did not come together until the middle of 2009. An organizing committee with Tulsa businesspeople and politicians began the effort to attract an expansion team. The group was originally given a September 1 deadline, however, WNBA President Donna Orender extended that deadline into October. The investment group hired former University of Arkansas head coach Nolan Richardson as the potential franchise general manager and head coach, and on October 15, 2009, the group made its official request to join the league.

On October 20, 2009, WNBA President Donna Orender, lead investors Bill Cameron and David Box, Tulsa mayor Kathy Taylor, Oklahoma governor Brad Henry, and head coach Nolan Richardson were present for a press conference announcing that the Detroit Shock would relocate to Tulsa. On January 23, 2010, the franchise announced that the team would remain as the Shock but the colors were changed to black, red, and gold.

On July 20, 2015, majority owner Bill Cameron announced he was moving the team to Dallas-Fort Worth.

Dallas Wings (2016–present)

On July 23, 2015, WNBA League owners unanimously approved the Tulsa Shock's relocation to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex to play out of the College Park Center at the University of Texas at Arlington. College Park Center is also home to the UT Arlington Mavericks basketball and volleyball teams. At a press conference at College Park Center on November 2, 2015, it was announced that the team was renamed the Dallas Wings.

Uniforms

Uniforms were revealed at the First Annual Wings Draft Party April 14, 2016. The light uniforms were primarily lime green while the dark uniforms were predominantly blue. As a result of a league-wide initiative for its 20th season, all games featured all-color uniform matchups, thus no white uniforms were unveiled for this season.

Former players

Jennifer Azzi (1999)

Carla Boyd (1998–1999, 2001)

Kara Braxton (2005–2010)

Sandy Brondello (1998–1999), now the head coach of the Phoenix Mercury

Dominique Canty (1999–2002)

Swin Cash (2002–2007)

Barbara Farris (2000–2005, 2009)

Cheryl Ford (2003–2008)

Alexis Hornbuckle (2008–2010)

Tasha Humphrey (2008)

Shannon Johnson (2007)

Temeka Johnson (2012)

Marion Jones (2010–2011)

Ivory Latta (2007, 2010–2012), now a member of the Washington Mystics

Taj McWilliams-Franklin (2008–2009)

Astou Ndiaye-Diatta (1999–2003)

Deanna Nolan (2001–2009)

Wendy Palmer (1999–2002)

Kayla Pedersen (2011–2013)

Elaine Powell (2002–2008)

Nicole Powell (2013)

Ruth Riley (2003–2006), now an general manager of the San Antonio Stars

Katie Smith (2005–2009), now an assistant coach of the New York Liberty

Odyssey Sims (2014–2016), now a member of the Los Angeles Sparks

Sheryl Swoopes (2011)

Shavonte Zellous (2009–2010), now a member of the New York Liberty

Owners

William Davidson, owner of the Detroit Pistons (1998–2009)

Tulsa Pro Hoops LLC, composed of Bill Cameron, David Box, Chris Christian, Sam and Rita Combs, and Paula Marshall.

Bill Cameron (majority owner) is Chairman and Chris Christian is Vice Chairman/Managing Partner (2015–present)

General managers

Nancy Lieberman (1998–2000)

Greg Williams (2000–2002)

Bill Laimbeer (2002–2009)

Cheryl Reeve (2009)

Nolan Richardson (2010–2011)

Teresa Edwards (2011)

Gary Kloppenburg (2012–2013)

Fred Williams (2012–2015)

Greg Bibb (2016–present)

Assistant coaches

Steve Smith (1998–2001)

Greg Williams (1998–2000)

Tom Cross (2001–2002)

Frank Schneider (2002)

Laurie Byrd (2003–2005)

Pam McGee (2003)

Korie Hlede (2004)

Rick Mahorn (2005–2009)

Cheryl Reeve (2006–2009)

Tammy Bagby (2010)

Wayne Stehlik (2010–2011)

Teresa Edwards (2011)

Tracy Murray (2011)

Kathy McConnell-Miller (2011–2012)

Jason Glover (2012–2013)

Stacey Lovelace-Tolbert (2013)

Bridget Pettis (2014–present)

Ed Baldwin (2014–2016)

Taj McWilliams-Franklin (2017-present)

Hall of Famers

Nancy Lieberman, enshrined 1996

Lynette Woodard, enshrined 2004

Media coverage

Previously while in Tulsa, some Shock games were broadcast on The Cox Channel (COX), which is a local television station for certain areas of the state of Oklahoma. More often than not, NBA TV will pick up the feed from the local broadcast, which is shown nationally. The broadcasters for the Shock games were Mike Wolfe and Shanna Crossley. All games (excluding blackout games, which are available on ESPN3.com) are broadcast to the WNBA LiveAccess game feeds on the league website. Furthermore, some games are broadcast nationally on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC.

References

Dallas Wings Wikipedia

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