Dallas Wings

Team information

Inaugural season: 1998, 2016 as the Wings

Home arena: College Park Center, University of Texas at Arlington

Owner: Bill Cameron, Chris Christian, Greg Bibb, University of Texas at Arlington

Team colors: Navy, volt green, cyan

Overview

The Dallas Wings are an American professional sports team that plays in the Western Conference of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). They are based in Arlington, Texas, and play their home games in College Park Center on the University of Texas campus. They are owned by a group headed by Bill Cameron that is associated with the university.

Prior to being known as the Wings, the team began as a WNBA expansion franchise in Detroit. They also played in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for five years before being acquired and relocated to the Dallas-Arlington-Fort Worth area of Texas. During their time as the Detroit Shock, the team won four conference titles and three league championships. Arike Ogunbowale, a Nigerian-American point guard drafted by the Wings in 2019, has been one of the reborn franchise’s stars.

History

Dallas Shock—1998–2010

The Dallas Wings came into the WNBA as the Dallas Shock when the league approved its first two expansion teams in 1998. The team struggled in its early years and failed to make the playoffs in four of its first five seasons. The Shock nearly disbanded after going 9–23 in 2002 but rebounded under coach Bill Laimbeer in 2003. That year, after posting a final record of 25–9, the Shock notched their first-ever playoff series win. They went on to beat the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Sparks and win the 2003 championship title. This marked the first time in American sports history that a team moved from last place to champions in one season.

The Shock was unable to repeat this success in the following two seasons. They did better the following three seasons, making it to the finals each year and winning the WNBA championship in 2006 and 2008. During this time, they played in the Palace of Auburn Hills arena and wore uniforms in two shades of blue, red, white, and silver.

Tulsa Shock—2010–2015

By 2009, the WNBA was looking to make some changes to strengthen the league. Its original model was to locate most of its teams in cities where there was already a National Basketball League (NBL) team. The men’s and women’s teams often shared owners, had related names, and wore uniforms in similar color schemes to help brand and launch the newer women’s league. After about a dozen years in operation, however, it became clear that a new strategy was needed to help the WNBA grow. In some cases, they decided to look for markets without a professional team that would share the fan base.

With this in mind, it was announced on October 20, 2009, that the Detroit Shock franchise would move to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Instead of competing with four professional men’s teams in four different sports, the new Tulsa WNBA team’s nearest competition for fans would be an NBA franchise nearly one hundred miles away. Palace Sports & Entertainment sold the Shock to a group headed by Bill Cameron and David Box, Tulsa Pro Hoops LLC.

From 2010 through 2015, the team played its home games in the Bank of Oklahoma Center, also known as the BOK Center, in Tulsa. Now known as the Tulsa Shock, they played in gold, black, white, and blood red uniforms. Nolan Richardson was hired as the team’s general manager and coach.

However, the team Richardson ended up with was not what many had expected. Several players from the Detroit team left before the team began playing in Tulsa. More roster shuffling came during the team’s first year and by the time the 2010 season ended, no players from Detroit were still playing with the Shock. The team did not see the success it had previously for the next four seasons. In 2015, the Tulsa Shock posted its first over-.500 season, finishing with a record of 18–16. Then, in July 2015, Cameron announced that the team was moving to the Dallas-Fort Worth area the following season.

Dallas Wings—2015–2021

The move needed approval from the WNBA, which was unanimously granted on July 23, 2015. The team was renamed the Dallas Wings, a reference to a famed Mobil Oil Company winged horse advertising image atop the Magnolia Hotel in Dallas. The team’s new logo featured a Pegasus, or winged horse, rendered in shades of white, cyan, and a lime green color known as volt green on a predominantly dark blue background. They became the first professional women’s basketball team in the area since the Dallas Diamonds left in 1981.

The Wings saw little success on the court during their first six years. They did not win a season during that time and failed to make the playoffs in 2016, 2019, and 2020. In 2017, 2018, and 2021, they failed to advance past the first playoff round. Their best season during that stretch came in 2017, when they finished fourth in the Western Conference with a record of 16–18.

Controversies

The team’s move to the College Park Center at the University of Texas at Arlington for the 2016 season generated some controversy. By associating with the city of Dallas in their name, the team became part of an ongoing issue in the area caused by professional sports teams that play in Arlington identifying instead with Dallas or Texas. The Texas Rangers in the National Baseball League (NBL) and the Dallas Cowboys in the National Football League (NFL) both played in Arlington without identifying directly with that city.

In 2021, the Wings’ sparked additional controversy with the design of their third “Rebel” jersey. WNBA teams partnered with Nike to design three jerseys for each league team. The three designs were known as the heroine edition, the explorer edition, and the rebel edition. Each team’s rebel edition design was intended to celebrate an underrecognized individual or a group from their home location. The Wings’ rebel edition jersey recognized the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) corps that was headquartered in Texas during World War II. However, the WASP corps was almost exclusively white, and many people questioned the appropriateness of honoring them over other more inclusive groups. The team, Nike, and the WNBA ultimately discontinued the jersey.

Notable players

Players of significance have been part of the team’s roster during its franchise history. Deanna Nolan was part of all three Shock championship teams in 2003, 2006, and 2008. Known as “Tweety,” she was the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the final series. The Russian-American guard was a five-time all-star and named the team’s most valuable player in 2007, 2008, and 2009. She also played in Russia during the WNBA off-season.

Katie Smith played for Ohio State University and in the defunct American Basketball League before joining the WNBA in 1998 as a member of the Minnesota Lynx. She was the first woman in professional basketball to score 4,000 points, a feat she accomplished before joining the Detroit Shock from 2005 through 2008. Smith was named MVP in 2006 when the Shock won their first championship. She was also part of their championship teams in 2008.

Cheryl Ford played with the Shock from 2003 through 2009 and was also part of the team’s championship seasons. She won the rookie of the year award and was named the MVP of the 2007 All Star game, one of her four all-star showings during her time with the Shock. Ford was also the league’s rebounding champion in 2005 and 2006 while playing in Detroit.

Australian Liz Cambage was drafted by the Tulsa Shock in 2011 and represented the team at the 2011 all-star game. After playing with the bronze medal-winning Australian national team in the 2012 London Olympics, she took a break from the Shock. Cambage returned to the team in 2013 but then left the WNBA in favor of playing in China and Australia for a few years. In 2018, she joined the Dallas Wings and on July 17, she set a WNBA scoring record of 53 points in one game. Cambage played her second all-star game in a Wings uniform in 2018 before requesting a trade. During her single year with the Wings, she was named a league peak performer and earned the league scoring title.

Arike Ogunbowale was drafted by the Dallas Wings in 2019. The Nigerian-American point guard made an immediate impact. She was third in scoring and a member of that year’s all-rookie team. In 2021, she represented the Wings in the all-star game and was selected as the game’s MVP.

Bibliography

Bond, Gary. “Shock's Move to Tulsa Makes Financial Sense.” Grand Rapids Press, 22 Oct. 2009, www.mlive.com/shock/2009/10/shocks‗move‗to‗tulsa‗makes‗fin.html. Accessed 12 November 2021.

Contreras, Gus. “The Dallas Wings Are Introduced to North Texas.” Texas Standard, 3 Nov. 2015, www.texasstandard.org/stories/the-dallas-wings-are-introduced-to-north-texas/. Accessed 12 November 2021.

“Dallas Wings.” Dallas Wings/Women’s National Basketball Association, wings.wnba.com/#. Accessed 12 November 2021.

“History of the Dallas Wings.” Texas Happens, texashappens.com/history-of-the-dallas-wings/. Accessed 12 November 2021.

“History of the WNBA.” Women’s National Basketball Association, 3 May 2002, www.wnba.com/news/history-of-the-wnba-2002/. Accessed 12 November 2021.

McCluskey, Megan. The WNBA Has Pulled a Controversial Jersey Days After Unveiling It. Here’s Why Many Found the Design Problematic.” Time, 16 April 2021, time.com/5954958/wnba-dallas-wings-nike-rebel-jersey-controversy/. Accessed 12 November 2021.

Solomon, Dan. The Dallas Wings (of Arlington) Are the Newest WNBA Team.” Texas Monthly, 3 Nov. 2015, www.texasmonthly.com/the-daily-post/the-dallas-wings-of-arlington-are-the-newest-wnba-team/. Accessed 12 November 2021.