Known as "Papa Sam" and "Papa G" to UCLA players, Gilbert began his relationship with UCLA basketball sometime around 1966–1967, when UCLA player
Willie Naulls brought Lew Alcindor (now
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and
Lucius Allen to him for some counseling. He opened up his
Bel-Air, Los Angeles home to the players and became an advisor to many. He bought clothes, cars, and even arranged abortions for players' girlfriends. Gilbert became the
sports agent for the professional contracts of Alcindor, Allen,
Sidney Wicks,
Henry Bibby,
Bill Walton and
Swen Nater. He and Los Angeles businessman Ralph Shapiro negotiated a $1.4 million contract for Alcindor with the
Milwaukee Bucks at no charge to Alcindor. Coach
Gene Bartow, who followed
John Wooden as coach of the Bruin men's basketball team, felt his life was threatened by Gilbert. He thanked the NCAA in 1993 for not investigating the UCLA program in 1976. Following the death of UCLA Athletic Director
J.D. Morgan in 1980, Gilbert began to exert more influence on the UCLA basketball team. Coach
Larry Brown "ran afoul" of Gilbert according to a 1988
Sports Illustrated article. A 1981 investigation by the
Los Angeles Times found that Gilbert had regularly helped UCLA athletes get discounts on items such as automobiles, stereos and airline tickets, and in so doing, apparently committed numerous violations of NCAA regulations. The investigation did not uncover evidence that Wooden had explicit personal awareness of Gilbert's activities. This led the
Times reporters to conclude that if Wooden was not aware of the specifics of Gilbert's favors for players, it was only because Wooden made no effort to discover those details. For his part, Wooden acknowledged that he had always felt uneasy about Gilbert's relationship with the players, but steadfastly denied having knowledge at the time of anything done by Gilbert that was in violation of NCAA regulations. He also asserted that both he and Morgan had advised players to steer clear of Gilbert, but that ultimately they could not control the players' or Gilbert's actions. Given what later came to light, however, Wooden granted that he may have had "tunnel vision" the UCLA basketball team was given two years NCAA probation. UCLA also was forced to vacate its Final Four appearance in the
1980 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament due to recruiting violations involving Rod Foster and others. HBO producer George Roy believes he was journalistically responsible to include it or face criticism. ==Indictment==