CORVALLIS — Parsa Fallah can make it look so easy at times on the basketball floor.
Oregon State’s junior forward has turned more than a few defenders into a pretzel with an arsenal of post moves early this men’s basketball season. The 6-foot-9 Fallah is the third-leading scorer at 10.8 points a game for the 12-4 Beavers as they head into West Coast Conference road contests this week at Santa Clara and Pacific.
Yet it was anything but simple for one of Iran’s best young players to fulfill a dream to play basketball in the United States. It was a road that included paying an alleged $300 bribe to an airport security guard and living in various lodging venues in Senegal, Africa for six months.
When former Southern Utah coach Todd Simon identified Fallah as a player he’d like to add to his program, he acknowledged getting a player from Iran to the U.S. “would be a little bit of a process.”
The process as Fallah understood meant traveling to the U.S. Embassy in Senegal, Africa, as Iran doesn’t have an embassy. Once there, Fallah was told it would take a few days to secure a U.S. visa to travel to Utah. There, Fallah would begin college and play for the Thunderbirds during the 2021-22 season.
Days became weeks, and weeks became months.
“Every day I was like, should I go back home, or should I stay? I’m not sure if I’m going to get the visa. I don’t want to disappoint my family. My dad was like, just come home. No one will care. But as I’ve said, it’s a dream to come (to the U.S.) and play basketball. I’ll deal with it.”
Fallah grew up in Amol, a city in northern Iran with a metro population of about 400,000. Fallah describes it as city where people go to vacation “because it’s so green, and it has a beach.”
Fallah, who prefers to be known as Persian, is often asked about living in a war-torn country. He says it’s anything but that. Fallah said he’s never seen fighting anywhere near his city. The first time he saw a gun was in the U.S.
“It’s really safe. I was so confused when people would think and say stuff like that. It’s a really safe for us and people who are living there,” he said.
Fallah adds that after living for a few years in the U.S., he gets the thought process.
“I feel like the news is just telling you some part of the truth. It’s not just your country here. It’s my country, too,” Fallah said.
If it was a sport, Fallah wanted to try during his youth. Fallah dabbled in power lifting, and played volleyball and of course, soccer, as do most kids from his country. Fallah said it was easy. Kids would drop a pair of shoes down as goal posts in a field and play all day. His father Ezzat is a youth soccer coach.
A basketball coach spotted Fallah one day playing soccer and suggested he try his sport. Fallah didn’t like it at first, but at his father’s urging, stuck with it.
Turns out it can be a good sport for someone who grew to be 6-9. Fallah evolved into one of the country’s top young players, as he played key roles for Iran at FIBA U-19 and U-20 tournaments.
There’s only so much future for a basketball player in Iran, however. Fallah said basketball ranks no higher than fifth or sixth among sports in his country.
“It’s kind of a boujee sport back home,” Fallah said. “It’s like golf and tennis here. Rich people play that stuff.”
It was 2019 when Fallah arrived on Simon’s radar. In 2021, Fallah decided to make the move from Iran to Southern Utah. He packed a suitcase, put $500 in his pocket, hugged his parents goodbye and left for Senegal, where at the airport Fallah met his first hurdle.
The security officer told Fallah he needed a visa to enter the country. It was Fallah’s understanding that as an Iranian citizen, he didn’t need a visa. The two argued. Eventually, Fallah paid the man $300 to enter the country.
“He kind of blackmailed me,” Fallah said.
Fallah recalls arriving in Senegal on a Sunday, as he had a Monday appointment regarding his U.S. visa. Then he was told to wait for a call or email. Days went by. Weeks, even. Fallah stayed in a barebones hotel, each day checking his email to see if this was the day he’d get visa appointment.
Fallah had friends in the basketball community who helped him out financially, so he had a place to stay and eat.
Fallah recalls times when he felt scared and alone. But his dream was to play basketball in the United States. Even when he was mentally challenged, like one morning when he woke up and saw a giant spider crawling on the wall next to his bed. Simon, now coach at Bowling Green, said he and his coaches regularly checked on Fallah to make sure he was safe and fed.
One day, to Fallah’s surprise, he opened up his email and discovered he had been approved for a visa.
“Just the best day of my life,” Fallah said.
Fallah flew to Las Vegas, where he met Simon. They drove 2½ hours to Cedar City, Utah, where Southern Utah is located. As much as Fallah liked what he saw, the weird thing was eating.
“I remember my first meal. Coach bought me Chick-Fil-A. I couldn’t eat. I’m not sure if it was because I was stressed out, or nervous, but I couldn’t eat for two or three days,” Fallah said.
Fallah’s appetite quickly returned, but basketball, not so much. Because it took six months to get to Utah, the Thunderbirds’ 2021-22 season had about six weeks remaining. Fallah was nowhere near college basketball playing shape. He used 21-22 as a redshirt season.
Fallah came off Southern Utah’s bench during the 2022-23 season. It was five games into the campaign, during a game at Kansas, that Simon thought he had something.
“He comes off the bench, and had eight (points) and eight (rebounds) in 13 minutes,” Simon said. “Right then we knew, OK, he’s not afraid of anything. He was the best big on the floor in that game. We knew he was going to be special.”
The following year, Fallah started every game, averaging 13.2 points and 6.0 rebounds a game. Late in the 23-24 season, Fallah began to think about transferring. He loved Southern Utah and the coaching staff. It’s where he met his wife, Ellie.
“I was really sad to leave there. But I need to do the sacrifice to go somewhere bigger,” Fallah said.
Turns out, Oregon State was that somewhere bigger. Earlier in the season, Beavers coach Wayne Tinkle was scouting a Southern Utah opponent on video when he noticed Fallah. Tinkle told then-OSU assistant Eric Reveno, if Fallah goes in the portal, we need to get him.
Of the seven transfers to sign with Oregon State last spring, Fallah was the first one. He was ready for a “bigger” experience; Fallah has started each of OSU’s 16 games this season, scoring double figures nine times, with back-to-back 25-point games in December.
One entertaining aspect of Fallah’s game are his post moves. Fallah is difficult to defend near the basket one-on-one because of the complexity of moves he’ll put on his man. Simon said when he coached Fallah at Southern Utah, they’d tried to get him to shoot three-pointers.
“I think there’s a future in that for him, but when you’re shooting 65 percent from two or whatever he’s at right now…it’s hard to argue with him leaving the paint,” Simon said.
Fallah thinks his childhood activity paid off.
“I was one of those tall people that could really move my feet, and I also had a really good touch,” Fallah said. “It might be because I tried a lot of new sports. Soccer and volleyball helped me a lot.”
Fallah is unsure of the future beyond Oregon State. He’d like to take a run at the 2028 Olympics, playing for Iran. Fallah would like to remain in U.S. after college, but his family is a factor.
“I need to bring my family here. Family is really big for me, my little brother, my parents,” Fallah said. “I would love to stay here. I really love America. It’s like my second home.”
–Nick Daschel can be reached at 360-607-4824, ndaschel@oregonian.com or @nickdaschel.
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