PHOENIX — On June 22, 1997, Bridget Pettis scored the first points in Phoenix Mercury franchise history. No one knew what would become of the WNBA or the Mercury organization. Gas in the United States was roughly $1.20 per gallon; nobody had iPhones or social media.
Nearly 30 years later, Pettis stood at center court before a sold-out arena, no longer introducing the franchise to the world but being celebrated as one of the women who made it possible.
As the Mercury honored their inaugural 1997 team on Saturday during a game against the New York Liberty, the moment served as a reminder of how far both the organization and the league have come — from a budding startup playing in front of curious audiences to one of the sports world’s fastest-growing products.
“It’s almost surreal because it was just 30 years ago…” Pettis told reporters before the game. “…It doesn’t feel like 30 years, but if you look at my gray hair, you know it’s been 30 years.”
She later added, “It means a lot to hear them still singing ‘Mighty Mercury,’ and just the energy in this building was set on day one, and everybody poured into it. The community came together. This is such a diverse environment. There’s been children since day one. The fathers have come out and supported the game since day one. This is what we wanted.”
While the gray hairs may mark the passage of time, the changes around Pettis are far more striking.
The Mercury entered the league in 1997 as one of the WNBA’s original eight franchises, playing in an era when players flew commercial, salaries were modest and the future of women’s professional basketball in America remained uncertain. Now, the league is setting attendance and television viewership records, securing landmark media-rights deals and attracting unprecedented attention. Oh, and the players fly charter now, too.
Thus, the reunion served equally as a celebration of the past, as well as an opportunity to visualize the foundation the team and original fans helped build, and how it transformed into something they could scarcely have imagined.
Many fans today weren’t even born when that 1997 team first took the floor, not fully aware of the impact of those like Pettis, then-head coach Cheryl Miller and hall-of-famer Nancy Lieberman — who debuted for Phoenix days before her 39th birthday as the oldest rookie in WNBA history, years after she had already contributed so much to the growth of women’s basketball.
Those three headlined those from the team in attendance for Saturday’s reunion, as fellow Mercury legends Michele Timms and Jennifer Gillom were unable to make it. The pair still gave heartfelt video messages shown on the arena’s video board.
After those messages, it was Miller’s turn to take the mic, wearing the same iconic suspenders she wore as a coach back in the day, once again putting on a show for the X-Factor crowd she captivated three decades earlier.
“Has it been 30 years? Only 30 years?” Miller said, addressing the fans with enthusiasm. “Thank you for a lifetime of memories. Thank you for setting the bar so incredibly high for the rest of the league as best fans on the planet. On behalf of the 1997 wonderful motley crew — my team — thank you so much for making all our dreams come true. Set your watches, let’s get back here in another 30 years. Love you guys.”
Organizational investment
Of the eight original WNBA franchises, the Mercury are one of only three that have remained for every season to date (along with the Liberty and Los Angeles Sparks). Despite being led by three different ownership groups during its history, Phoenix’s commitment to the growth of the league and its players has been what has set it apart from other franchises that have had to fold or relocate.
For Pettis, who retired in 2006 but has since always been connected to the Mercury organization, that model is what she believes allowed her 1997 team to set the foundation of what the franchise and league is now.
“I think it’s because we went all in,” Pettis said. “The organization as a whole just went all in, poured into the players. They gave everything they could give to us at that time, and it’s just coming to fruition today. We got to go into the new facility, and it’s just like, ‘Wow, we did all that hard work just to be here for the future of the WNBA.”
However, that doesn’t mean there weren’t numerous challenges along the way. Strict budgets meant lower player salaries and fewer quality-of-life conveniences. Players still needed to play overseas during the offseason to earn a full living, and the league had to constantly fight media doubt regarding whether women’s professional sports could achieve long-term success.
Simply surviving the first decade was a major accomplishment, proving it still belonged in the second decade was an even greater challenge, and finishing up a third decade at the highest point of growth the league has seen is the long-awaited reward. But still, some of the questionable working conditions and belittlement teams had to endure during those years will be stories told forever.
“I remember when we first started, we were in the Suns locker room, and when the Suns players came back, we had to take all our stuff, get out of the locker room,” Pettis recalled. “Even if we had to go work out in the weight room, we had to get out of the weight room [if a Suns player came in]. So to see that we have our own today — it’s very clear, it’s phenomenal. And the players, their salaries have increased. You know, just the work that has been put into it being here today.”
Back then, survival was the priority. The focus was proving women’s professional basketball belonged, leaving little room for players to think about off-the-court ventures or preparing for careers outside of basketball.
Players like Pettis simply weren’t afforded the same luxuries many players today have when it comes to being recognized as legitimate athletes who could be placed alongside their male counterparts in commercials and ad campaigns. It’s a luxury those early pioneers laid the groundwork for, but also paid the price for. Still, they wouldn’t want it any other way.
“It’s so awesome to see that there is more than just basketball,” Pettis said. “We didn’t really have that mindset at the time, as far as building our brand and what more do we have outside of ball itself. And it’s just good to see the diversity in the women’s lifestyle now — it’s just not all about basketball.
“I think it’s a little bit more balanced, she continued. “I think that’s a part that is important with mental health after basketball. If you hear the many stories, I just wrote a book about my journey after basketball and what I had to transition through, I think having that helps a lot.”
A legacy that continues
So what do the next 30 years look like? Saturday wasn’t just about looking back. It was also about seeing the result of decades of work unfold in a way that can be amplified even further. Pioneers often don’t realize they’re pioneers in the moment, something Pettis hinted at when talking about her teammates — many of whom are lesser-known and maybe only played in the WNBA for one or two years.
“I’m more so celebrating them because I’ve been around,” Pettis said. “I’ve still been a part of the Mercury organization, but I’m looking at them all the time at how excited they are to be back home. And I’m like, ‘You all built this. It took all of us for them to feel that.’”
In that vein, today’s players are the next pioneers — whether they’re one of the league’s superstars or a player on a developmental contract that may not play more than a handful of games during their career. Being able to appreciate and learn from predecessors is one of the ways that growth can keep increasing.
“It’s a really good opportunity for our young players to see some of the veterans that did it,” Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said pregame. “Yesterday we had four players from the original WBL [Women’s Professional Basketball League] come in and speak to our team for 30 minutes, and they did a heck of a job as far as sharing the history of the game. I think it’s good to recognize where the game has been and where it is now.
“One of the things that I like to do with our staff is [go on] Basketball Reference every day,” he added. “On the W site, it’s got six or eight different pictures of players, and so the newbies to our league, we’re trying to learn their names with the face, and that’s something that I’ve tried to do with our staff the last couple years … I think having Tangela [Smith] and [Kristi Toliver] around and being able to tell us about some of the players that maybe for myself I didn’t know a lot about has been super helpful, and an opportunity for me to grow as a coach.”
Mercury veteran DeWanna Bonner, herself a legend within the franchise and WNBA, may know better than anyone how far the league has come, and how far it can possibly go. The 38-year-old has been in the league since 2009 and currently ranks as the WNBA’s third all-time leading scorer. Even she, iconic enough to star as a featured player in ESPN’s new ‘Life in the W’ docuseries, recognized the magnitude of being in the same building as the 1997 team.
“I saw a couple people in the hallway and gave them big hugs, but it’s just an honor to even be in their presence for them to come out and get honored,” Bonner said postgame. “This shows how the Phoenix Mercury organization rolls, so that’s kind of cool. It was just cool to lay eyes on them … Just seeing where it was built and people just coming back and coming around, so it was great.”
At Mercury practice earlier in the week, 11-year veteran Kahleah Copper shared some ideas about her own legacy, imagining what it would be like 30 years from now when she might be honored by a former team. Although 1997 may seem like a year as far in the past as 2057 is in the future, the reality is that torches are meant to be passed. The bridge between those two eras is being built quicker than it may seem in the moment.
“Wow, that would be super dope,” Copper said. “It’s crazy because we look at these things like, ‘Oh, the 1997 team is coming,’ but there will be a day when I’m coming back, and I just hope that the league just continues to grow, and I’m able to come back and do that.”
