Talk:Sam Gilbert (businessman)

Why Sam Gilbert is notable
Sam Gilbert is often brought up by those who are critical of the success of legendary basketball coach John Wooden. In particular, former coach Jerry Tarkanian, whose Cal State Long Beach teams suffered at the hands of the Bruins, and sports writer Dan Wetzel, who has authored a book about the 1966 Texas Western Miners who won the NCAA tournament between Wooden's 2nd and 3rd of 10 NCAA championships.

Critics, Greg Doyle for example, have alleged that Wooden could not have won any championships had it not been for Gilbert. However, by 1962 UCLA was in the final four, they won championships in 1964 and 1965. Gilbert does not appear to have much influence at all until 1966-1967. John Wooden had instructed his players to steer clear of him.

The documented time line for his involvement seems to go like this.
 * Players report getting money from boosters for good performance in games, early sixties, Jack Hirsh is quoted
 * Sam Gilbert takes Lew Alcindor and Lucius Allen under his wing 1966-1967
 * Gilbert negotiates the ABA vs NBA decision for Lew (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar)
 * Other players hang out at his house, notably Bill Walton, who appears to treat it as a second home. Although Bill is from a middle class family and is not there for the cash handouts.
 * John Wooden retires in 1975.
 * Exerted more and more influence with the UCLA program, particularly after JD Morgan's death in 1980.
 * UCLA investigated in 1981 and 15 years of infractions documented by the Los Angeles Times. UCLA is ordered to sever ties with Gilbert and goes on probation.

After this he still tries to stay involved with UCLA including programs run by Larry Farmer and Walt Hazzard.
 * Gilbert gets involved in a money laundering scheme for the Bicycle club.
 * He dies in 1987, and is indicted 4 days later.

The facts do not document Gilbert's involvement with recruiting and coaching or winning national championships in basketball, but it seems well documented that he was involved in many UCLA players' lives and provided support in many different ways.

Group29 (talk) 00:26, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Why a UCLA fan should be interested in this information
As someone who clearly is a UCLA fan, the main question is why would I want to provide content for this article? The answer is that, whenever a critic wants to attack the UCLA program, he or she thinks that the mere mention of Sam Gilbert's name should make UCLA basketball fans quail. It is important to get the known facts straight about just what Sam Gilbert was and what he did in relation to the UCLA Men's basketball program. Fans of rival teams and revenue-generating college sports in general should take note of the lessons learned from Sam Gilbert's connections to UCLA star basketball players. My opinion is that fans of the UCLA would be doing a huge disservice to the program and personnel by trying to ignore the fact that Sam Gilbert did things for UCLA players that were outside the NCAA rules. This only gives critics more ammunition, and also enables them to fabricate stories about how Sam Gilbert supposedly ran the program, hired the coaches, recruited the players, and hung the banners in Pauley Pavilion, and how he supposedly was involved since the time John Wooden arrived on campus. None of this is true. However, the truth is that Sam Gilbert was a wealthy individual who was involved in the personal lives of UCLA basketball players, corroborated by the players themselves. The truth also is that Sam Gilbert was connected with criminal enterprises, based upon federal investigations. UCLA fans should wonder how close Sam Gilbert and other influential boosters nearly ruined the athletic program. Group29 (talk) 16:06, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

John Gasaway article
This article, published June 8, 2010, on Basketball Prospectus, largely expands and corroborates the information I entered here on June 5th.

June 8, 2010: Wooden's Century, Meet Sam Gilbert, Again by John Gasaway Group29 (talk) 03:13, 25 July 2010 (UTC)


 * This article does not seem to exist 10 years later, although an excerpt appears still on ESPN. Group29 (talk) 14:36, 31 May 2020 (UTC)

Reference keeps getting deleted
This referenced statement has been deleted 4 times:

He bought clothes, cars, and even arranged abortions for players' girlfriends. ''ref name="ReferenceA" Mike Littwin and Alan Greenberg - How Sugar Daddy Stuck UCLA. Los Angeles Times, February 1, 1982''

There is actually a print image of this article on the internet. Group29 (talk) 14:29, 17 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Pittsburgh Press/Pittsburgh Post Gazzette Feb 1, 1982 Group29 (talk) 17:00, 17 July 2011 (UTC)


 * Restored after being deleted again Group29 (talk) 18:24, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

Personal Life
I rolled back three controversial entries that were lacking citations. While they could be true, these must have backing references, not empty tags. Thanks Group29 (talk) 18:14, 15 March 2013 (UTC)

BLP
Note that both Sam and his wife Rose are both deceased, and they had no children together. Although his sons from a previous marriage are still living. Group29 (talk) 13:53, 1 March 2015 (UTC)