After tapping the game-winning goal into the net against D.C. United on May 27 to lead the Portland Timbers to a crucial home victory, Maximiliano Urruti made a beeline for the sideline where he jumped into the arms of teammate Gaston Fernandez.

In the stands above Urruti, fans in Section 107 rocked up and down as a cloud of green smoke hovered above them. Amidst the melee, a group of Timbers Army faithfuls, as if on cue, quickly got to work unraveling a giant flag.

For a fleeting moment, rays of green and yellow fabric engulfed nearly the entirety of Section 107 as the flag waved steadily in the light breeze. But then, in one quick motion, the fans let the flag drop back down to its mysterious bunker behind the seats.

For much of the last decade, it has been a special Timbers Army tradition to celebrate each of their club's home goals by raising the ceremonial sunshine-themed flag.

It grew into such a memorable fixture for Timbers matches, that it is easy to forget that the tradition was nearly lost.

* * *

Amy Coyle first heard about the idea for sewing a giant flag while she was standing in a crowded bar, beer in hand, after a Timbers game in 2004.

Coyle had only recently started attending games and wasn't yet heavily involved in the Timbers Army culture. She noticed two Timbers fans - James Harrison and Jim Kelshiemer-Sevick, who everyone referred to as "Pong" - wandering around the bar with a coffee can partially full of money.

They told Coyle that they were hoping to raise enough money to create a flag - that they fondly called the "BAF," which stands for Big Ass Flag - that could span the length of Section 107.

Instead of simply donating a few dollars, like many members of the Timbers Army, Coyle, who enjoys sewing as a hobby, asked if there was any way that she could help with the project.

"The big ass flag seems so small now compared to the huge tifo displays that go all the way up to the rafters," Coyle said. "But it was such a big project at the time."

Coyle and the rest of the flag makers met up at a warehouse in Northwest Portland to begin working on the project in the spring of 2004.

Harrison brought the lightweight green and yellow fabric. Coyle and long-time Timbers Army devotee Gisele Currier, who passed away in 2011, brought their sewing machines. Pong and Timbers fan Dave Hoyt helped cut the fabric and held the pieces up while Coyle and Currier ran the material through their sewing machines.

For two months, the group met at least once a week to work on the flag. They would often spend up to eight hours together in the warehouse or at Harrison's art studio concentrated on transforming the concept for the flag into a reality. At one point, the heavy material caused Coyle's sewing machine to overheat and she had to leave to go get another one.

But in the early summer, they finally finished the project. Harrison and Coyle brought the flag across the street to a nearby baseball field and laid it out on the diamond. Harrison climbed to the top of a tall chain link fence to take a picture.

The hours upon hours of hard work had paid off.

On July 14, 2004, the group finally introduced the flag before a match against the San Jose Earthquakes in the U.S. Open Cup. On that day, the flag served as the Timbers Army tifo, flapping in the breeze above Section 107 for a few short moments before the match.

"I can't explain the satisfaction of seeing it done," Coyle said, "And knowing that the people that invested their time and money in it could see it up."

Over time, the flag tradition evolved and it soon became a staple of the Timbers Army's goal celebration. During the Timbers final years as a second division soccer club, the TA would raise the flag briefly after every Timbers goal at home.

When the Timbers moved to MLS in 2011, the flag was retired and stored at the Timbers Army fanladen. The tradition disappeared.

* * *

When Paul Regan started attending Timbers matches in 2004, he immediately noticed the giant flag that popped up in Section 107 after every Timbers goal.

He loved the ritual of seeing the fans jumping up and down in unison, singing in celebration as the flag rose up above their heads.

During the Timbers' first few seasons in MLS, Regan was keenly aware of the flag's absence. He missed the ritual. So, he decided to do what he could to bring it back.

"It was just one of those things," Regan said. "Whenever we scored, the flag went up. When it went away, I just missed it. It always bothered me. I wanted us to carry over those traditions to MLS."

It just so happened that Regan was friends with fellow Timbers fan Silvian Nita, the owner of European Master Tailor in downtown Portland. Regan, who stands in front of Nita in Section 107 at Timbers games, started begging the tailor to sew the TA a new flag.

Nita grew up in Romania during a time of political strife and made the decision to leave his home country in 1986 at the age of 28. At the time, Romania was under the rule of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and Nita was forced to sneak out of the country and seek asylum in the United States. His cousin lived in Portland, so he made the decision to come to the Pacific Northwest. The majority of his family has since joined him.

Soccer had been a big part of Nita's life in Romania. He played as a child and was an avid fan of the sport. When he arrived in Portland, he continued to play at local pickup games and, over time, he naturally began to follow the Timbers.

When the Timbers joined MLS, Nita bought season tickets. He has attended all but one home game since 2011, standing in the same seat seven rows up in Section 107. Nita and his employee Iulia Hanczarek will now sometimes start singing the TA chants while they sew during the workday.

"I go to every game," Nita said. "I grew up with soccer in Europe. I played soccer when I was young. It's in my blood."

* * *

Nita didn't know anything about the original giant flag when Regan started pestering him to make a new one.

But the tailor was happy to do what he could to be a part of recreating a Timbers Army tradition.

Regan quickly worked to collect donations to buy the material. He looked up pictures of the original BAF to figure out how many rays the original sun design featured and get an idea of which shades of green and yellow fabric would be needed.

In early 2014, Nita began to work on bringing the second flag to life.

For more than a month, Nita and Hanczarek would spend their Sundays in Nita's small two-room shop measuring and marking the material and sewing together the different panels of the flag. Yellow and green pieces of fabric covered the entire store.

Regan or another friend would often come to help, offering to squeeze into the crowded shop to hold the material up while Nita or Hanczarek carefully ran it through their sewing machines.

They made a few aesthetic changes from the original flag, wrapping the rays around a yellow circle, rather than a green circle, and sewing the Timbers Army axe into the center of the design.

When they finally finished, Nita decided to hang the flag from the second-floor balcony in the hallway of the small mall where his store is located. The flag was so big that he still had to fold up the ends even as it hung from the second floor.

He couldn't wait to bring the flag out to the stadium at the start of the 2014 season.

"When we started, we thought it was never going to end," Nita said. " It was not an easy project, but we put our minds to work. It's amazing to now see the flag go up in the stadium."

* * *

Hidden under a table in Nita's shop is a small backpack that holds a smaller version of the flag that he stitched together for away games. A bigger gym bag holds the giant flag for home matches.

Before the games, Regan will lay the folded flag out behind a row in Section 107. When fans begin to enter the stadium, he'll inform them of their new job: Raise the flag when the Timbers score.

Sometimes when there is a goal-scoring drought, the flag remains behind the seats, hidden from view for the entire match. At the end, Regan collects it and stuffs it, unused, back into the gym bag.

But when the Timbers find that elusive goal, the fans in Section 107 are quick to raise that flag, letting it wave for just a few precious moments of elation.

The tradition continues.

-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com

503-853-3761 | @jamiebgoldberg