Thursday marks the 30th Anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake, the second of two destructive earthquakes to hit San Francisco last century. Today we look back with some members of the USF Athletics department, both past and present, to share their memories of that tragic day and the surrounding days on The Hilltop. 
 

It was October 17, 1989, when the University of San Francisco women's soccer team was playing its cross-city opponent, San Francisco State, at Cox Stadium. The Dons and the Gators remained tied by the end of regulation and were entering overtime.
 
"It was a very competitive game," said former head coach Erik Visser. "We were obviously very focused like San Francisco State. We were trying to win the game in overtime, so it was a very great quality matchup."
 
Then, everything started to shake. At 5:04 p.m. PT, the Bay Area was struck with a 6.9 magnitude earthquake. While the quake hit in the Santa Cruz Mountains, San Francisco was devastated with destruction. 
 
The Marina district in San Francisco suffered the most with gas mains and pipes bursting, creating fires, according to History. Also, a part of the Cypress Street Viaduct near I-880 — south of the Bay Bridge — collapsed and resulted in fatalities when the upper portion of the two-level overpass crashed on top of the cars on the bottom level. 
 
The Bay Bridge also had some damage, when a portion of the upper level fell into the lower deck, resulting in a fatality. 
 
Visser remembers sitting on the bench during the game in Parkmerced when he noticed the buildings surrounding the field were shaking. No one realized, however, just how bad the earthquake was until after the game.
 
"Since we were in the open field, we didn't really realize the magnitude of the earthquake until we got in the van to drive back to USF and we started listening to the radio," Visser said. "We knew it was a pretty significant earthquake and we had all stopped and ran to the benches, but we were in an open space so there wasn't any immediate danger of any buildings collapsing. So it was quite a unique experience."
 
Back on The Hilltop, former men's basketball coach Jim Brovelli and his team were getting ready for practice. Brovelli was on the gym floor at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center, then in its 31st year, when he felt a shake through the whole facility.
 
"The whole building shook and I knew it was an earthquake when it happened," Brovelli said. "After the shaking, there was a huge rolling feeling that made me feel like I was five feet off the ground. I didn't know how long it was going to last or if the walls were just going to collapse."
 
Brovelli, along with others who were inside the facility, ran outside to wait for the earthquake to end. Practice was cancelled that day for the Dons, and Brovelli decided to head home to see his family.
 
On the same day as the earthquake, the 1989 World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics was taking place at Candlestick Park. It was the third game of the series, with a 5:30 p.m. PT scheduled first pitch. The whole Bay Area had their eyes on the game. Brovelli's son was at the park, sitting on the upper deck. 
 
"I was worried about [my son] because I didn't even know if the park was still standing," Brovelli said. "I started driving home and I was crossing the Golden Gate Bridge when I turned around and saw the fires in the Marina. So there was a lot of worry with no communication. When I got home, my wife and daughter were okay, and three or four hours later, my son finally got home."
 
After that day, Brovelli said walking back into War Memorial at the Sobrato Center was surreal. From the experience the Dons had during the earthquake, everyone was still "shell-shocked." 
 
Brovelli explained that this earthquake happened during a time where there were no cell phones, so he made sure the players had a chance to get in contact with their families, and check that everyone was okay. Also, the facility was checked and deemed safe to go back in, but Brovelli wasn't surprised the gym was still standing.
 
"That building was built probably in the 1950s, but it's so sturdy," Brovelli said. "It's made of concrete and could go through anything. And it did go through quite an earthquake."
 
While the first practice back in the gym may have felt strange, Brovelli was ready to move forward, and basketball helped take his and his team's minds off of all that was going on.
 
"We were able to focus on something other than the disaster that had happened," Brovelli said. "We got together as a group, had a common cause, and moved on from there. Each day got better and better."
 
Over in Twin Peaks, Julie Congi, the Athletics Event Coordinator for USF, was also watching the World Series on TV, holding her baby daughter. She had just gotten back from vacation, having picked up her daughter from her in-laws' house, when she decided to watch the pre-game show that was airing. Then, all of a sudden, the screen went black. 
 
"Up on the mountain, I could really feel it," Congi said. "There was this sudden jolt and I remember thinking the whole house was going to collapse. I've never been in an earthquake that big."
 
Current soccer analyst Joe Dugan '90 was a senior on the men's soccer team at the time of the quake. Practice had just finished, and Dugan and his teammates were in the locker room in the basement of War Memorial at the Sobrato Center. 
 
Dugan explained he had just a towel around him, and one of his teammates was right next to him, when all of a sudden, the lights went out and the earthquake hit. That was when Dugan reached for his teammate, but he was gone. 
 
"I remember that the lockers were shaking — rattling back and forth — and the lockers were cement so I knew it was serious," Dugan said. "One of our teammates who was a local kid went by the door of the locker room and started shouting at everyone to get out. We all left the locker room and headed out to the baseball field — that's where they evacuated us. I think we were able to put some sweats on, too."
 
Dugan also said that there were volleyball and soccer players in the trainer's room, and some people were in the hot tubs they had to help student-athletes recover from injuries. The earthquake was so strong, Dugan said, those in the hot tub fell out.
 
Immediately after the earthquake, The Hilltop became an evacuation center for the entire neighborhood. Dugan remembers there were a lot of media people at what is still the cafe on campus, and that was where a lot of the students had congregated.
 
"Anytime you have a situation like that, being around others is more comforting, so it was good to have that," Dugan said. "Going on with school and soccer was eerie in the sense that all this major stuff was happening, but we still had soccer practice and we still went over [to Berkeley] to play California. USF as a community really came together and went out, and offered to help."
 
Life after the quake took some time to get back to normal. Dugan said once the aftershocks stopped, it took three weeks before he and everyone else started to feel normal and safe.
 
According to the Forghorn, USF's school paper, classes were cancelled until Oct. 23, but the campus remained open, "We initially decided to stay open not from the viewpoint of academia but so students could retain a sense of normalcy, order," said Fr. John Clark, S.J., the then Vice President of Academic Affairs.
 
In the aftermath of the quake, USF remained largely unscathed. The University, unlike most of San Francisco, had power thanks to a generator on campus.  All the dorms, which were quickly evacuated and checked room by room to ensure structural safety, reopened that night except for Lone Mountain. War Memorial, Negoesco Stadium, and Benedetti Diamond all showed no signs of any structural damage. In fact, Benedetti Diamond and Negoesco Stadium served as the initial evacuation point for the campus, with then-school president Fr. John J. LoSchiavo addressing the crowd from the press box at Benedetti.
 
In the end, the only damage of any significance on campus was to St. Ignatius Church. According to the Foghorn, the internal pillars on the east side were cracked and had to be x-rayed in order to determine whether the church was structurally safe. It was the church itself that served as a beacon to San Francisco. The limited power on campus allowed the church to remain lit, and the toll of the church bells, despite the structural damage, calmly working in the face of tragedy.  
 
There would be 3,500 earthquakes, aftershocks, and tremors in the Bay Area during the seven-day span following the Loma Prieta quake.  
 
The Bay Area is known for little quakes here and there — some so small that people don't notice, and others big enough to rattle nerves. On Monday, October 14, 2019 — nearly 30 years later to the day— at 10:33 p.m. PT, a 4.5 magnitude earthquake hit one mile from Pleasant Hill, Calif., and it was felt all over the Bay. And while Dugan wasn't exactly feeling a sense of déjà vu, he did say it was "kind of trippy."
 
"What I was thinking last night was that it was a pretty prolonged shake," Dugan said. "I am just leery of the next big one."
 
History reported that 67 people lost their lives, with over 3,000 injured, and there was more than $5 billion in damage. And while it's been 30 years since that day, it is still one of the most intense memories for those who were in the Bay at the time.