Shock Waves Reach Beyond the Southland : Earthquake: Cal State Northridge, Clipper players fear for families from long distances. Anaheim Stadium is damaged.

The earthquake that was centered in Northridge early Monday morning led to the postponement of a game between the Sacramento Kings and the Lakers in Inglewood and left many local athletes, at home or on the road for games, frantic about the safety of their friends and family.

The earthquake also crumpled the “Big A” sign inside Anaheim Stadium and the massive scoreboard above the left field stands collapsed. There was no apparent damage to any of the other Southland sporting venues. In fact, Santa Anita in Arcadia ran its regular racing card.

The Forum in Inglewood did not sustain any major damage, but officials chose to postpone the scheduled afternoon game between the Lakers and Sacramento Kings.

“There was power in the building, but basically I think it was just more of a common sense decision since the police were telling everyone to stay at home and because of the problems with the freeways being closed,” said John Black, the Lakers’ public relations director. “It was pretty obvious that we couldn’t play the game.”

The game will be rescheduled. A new date could be set today. The Lakers are scheduled to play at Seattle at 7 tonight.

The Clippers, in Miami for tonight’s game against the Heat, spent Monday morning phoning their families to see if they made it through the earthquake unharmed.

The family members of the team suffered no serious injuries, but General Manager Elgin Baylor’s home in Woodland Hills was slightly damaged, a team spokesman said.

Joe Safety, the Clippers’ communications director, said Friday night’s game against Cleveland at the Sports Arena is still scheduled to be played.

The Cal State Northridge men’s basketball team, on the road for a game at the University of Colorado, spent Monday watching news of the earthquake’s damage on television and waiting for phone calls from family. It was difficult for team members to contact their families because long distance telephone service into and out of the Southland was extremely limited.

Once the media in Boulder realized that Northridge was playing in town, the team was besieged by requests from reporters. At noon, the Matadors held a news conference, during which team members were very upset about waiting to hear from family members.

But as Monday wore on, most team members heard from their families. Many had sustained damage to their homes and apartments, but none were seriously injured. Isidore Gold, Northridge’s student assistant, and Ozan Korkut, a freshman from Turkey, were still waiting to hear from friends and family hours before tip-off.

As of Monday afternoon, Matador staff members were considering flying the team home today and postponing Wednesday’s game at Air Force, but they had not been able to reach school administrators to make travel arrangements.

Meanwhile, in the Southland, the earthquake’s damage reached far from Northridge, which was considered the epicenter.

Some 50 miles away from the epicenter at Anaheim Stadium, the Sony Jumbotron, about 800 square feet in area and weighing 17.5 tons, broke from its moorings atop the stadium’s roof and landed in a partially upright position in the upper deck, taking a portion of the roof with it. Late Monday morning, the board was held precariously in place at a 45-degree angle by some of its beams. At least 800 seats were damaged or destroyed.

Damage to the stadium was estimated at $3 million to $4 million by city officials, who said the size of the deductible on the city’s liability insurance might mean that the loss will not be covered.

It also was unclear when repairs could be made, officials said, or if this weekend’s motorcycle races at the stadium will be postponed.

“We have contacted our engineering firm to have them do a technical evaluation of the stadium,” assistant city manager David Morgan said. “Our goal is to be back in business as quickly as possible.”

Stadium General Manager Greg Smith said he was “surprised” that the scoreboard would collapse in an earthquake that caused only minor damage elsewhere in the immediate area.

The Kings’ Wayne Gretzky, in Philadelphia after Sunday night’s 5-2 loss to the Flyers, said that his home in Beverly Hills is “pretty much ruined inside.” He said the fireplace separated from the wall and there is a big hole in the kitchen floor and most of the furniture is destroyed.

Santa Anita Park race track was structurally sound and went ahead with its race card on Monday.

“The first thing we did was we got an outside engineer to come in and inspect the entire plant and he could find no structural damage or danger and gave us the go-ahead,” said Jack Disney, a media liaison for Santa Anita. “Then we checked with the Arcadia police department to make sure that there was no problem with surrounding roads. Everything considered, we decided to go ahead and run the race program . . . it was not an easy decision.”

Times staff writers Chris Baker and Lisa Dillman contributed to this story.