Dawn Staley had an airport story for the ages after landing in Portland, Oregon on Thursday.
The South Carolina head coach said the flight itself was routine, but chaos unfolded once she was on the ground — and it centered on Portland International Airport’s famously beloved carpet, a pattern so iconic it has its own fan following and has inspired Trail Blazers gear and a Damian Lillard shoe colorway.
According to Staley, a fellow traveler walking ahead of her seemed eager to get a closer look at the carpet and took a tumble right in front of her. What happened next left her stunned. Wearing what she described as inappropriate travel attire, the passenger’s fall resulted in an accidental and very NSFW reveal. Staley didn’t hold back describing her reaction on X, writing that the moment happened “2 steps in front of me” and that her reflexes “didn’t allow me to blink or look away.” Her verdict: “I saw 100% beaver.”
As if that weren’t enough, Staley said the ordeal continued — she then crossed paths with a group of live emotional support llamas elsewhere in the terminal.
Staley didn’t specify why she was traveling to Portland. Speculation has pointed to a couple of possibilities: Nike’s headquarters sit nearby in Beaverton, and South Carolina is known to be recruiting Oregon point guard Kaylor Buse, a West Linn native. That said, college basketball is currently in a quiet period, during which off-campus recruiting contact isn’t permitted — so if recruiting was on her mind, it wasn’t the reason for the trip itself.
About The Author
