Like millions of others in the sprawling Los Angeles megalopolis, Eric Patterson was asleep when the Northridge earthquake struck.
It was 4:31 a.m., Pacific time, on Jan. 17, 1994, and a tremor that measured 6.7 on the Richter scale hit one mile south-southwest of Northridge in the San Fernando Valley.
"It was pretty devastating," said Patterson, a Kansas University football-track athlete from Long Beach, about 40 miles southeast of the epicenter. "We were supposed to have a track meet up there, and it was postponed."
Patterson, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound junior wide receiver who finished fourth in the high hurdles at last spring's Big 12 Outdoor championships, eventually made the journey to Northridge with his high school track and field teammates.
"You saw cracks and breaks in buildings," Patterson said. "Some of the structures were shut down because of the damage."
Because it occurred in a heavily populated area and caused so much structural damage, the Northbridge earthquake ranks as the most expensive in U.S. history.
If you're afraid of earthquakes, California is not where you want to live. Most of the state is riddled with faults.
Patterson isn't afraid of earthquakes, though.
"There are always small ones," he said. "People sleep through the smaller ones. I've been through some tremblors. It's just part of living there."
Earthquakes go with the territory, he says.
"It's just like Kansas and the threat of tornados," he said, smiling. "I'd much rather be in an earthquake than a tornado."
As a football player, Patterson hasn't taken Kansas by storm. He has speed and strength and is regarded as a solid downfield blocker, but he can count only 12 receptions in two seasons.
Injuries, mostly minor, have dogged him, although he missed a couple of games in 1997 with a fractured rib that led to a punctured lung.
When Patterson was in high school in Long Beach, he was attuned to attending an NCAA Div. I-A school. That's why he didn't give Div. I-AA Cal State Northridge a second thought.
"I remember when their coaches came by our high school and asked if we had anyone in academic difficulty who didn't want to go to a junior college," Patterson said. "I wasn't interested."
-- Chuck Woodling's phone message number is 832-7147. His e-mail address is cwoodling@ljworld.com.
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