 They were founded on July 29, 1996, by Chico Heat Professional Baseball LLC, with former supermarket entrepreneur Steve Nettleton and his wife Kathy serving as principal owners.General managers included Bob Linscheid (who would go on to become president of the WBL) and Jeff Kragel (now at Chico State University) and their mascot was the "Heater The Dragon" (not to be confused with the Bakersfield Blaze mascot of the same name).The team began operations in 1997.