A Patron Called Papa Sam

The inscription on the framed photograph of Milwaukee Bucks Center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar reads: "For a true friend in all seasons." The legend on the picture of Bruce Walton (Bill's brother) says: "Maybe it's corny, but I love you." The object of such unabashed affection is a millionaire Los Angeles building contractor, Sam Gilbert. His own three children are grown, and for Gilbert, 61, U.C.L.A. athletes--past and present--are now his family. Gilbert is their confidant, business adviser and surrogate father. Hence the nickname:

"Papa Sam."

A U.C.L.A. alumnus, Gilbert attends most home games and occasionally travels with the team. Gilbert's luxurious Pacific Palisades house, with 50-ft. swimming pool and well-stocked refrigerator, serves as a second home for the athletes. "The kids are hungry for a bit of home life," explains Gilbert's wife Rose, who teaches English at Pacific Palisades High School. "They love having this hangout." Bill Walton would agree. At last year's Thanksgiving dinner, a basketball team tradition at the Gilberts' that ranks next to Sunday bagels-and-lox brunch, Walton (on a dare) gleefully wolfed down an entire pumpkin pie smothered with a quart of ice cream. When Bill came down with a severe strep throat last season, he went to the Gilberts' to recuperate. Says Walton of Sam: "He's just a great dude."

Gilbert's study, filled with photographs and trophies that Walton has won ("Bill's not much for trophy collecting"), also serves as a counseling office for troubled players. The problems?

"You name it," Gilbert says. "Everything from pregnant girl friends, failing grades, deep disappointment in not playing either regularly or well, problems with their parents, uncertainty about their futures." Father-like he also nags his charges about their grades, and last year helped to arrange the wedding of Walton's back-up center, Swen Nater. The wedding was in conservative Orange County, and Gilbert suggested that Keith Wilkes' father, a Baptist minister, perform the ceremony. "We all loved the idea of blowing some minds in Orange County by having a black clergyman officiate at the marriage of a white couple," says Gilbert.

-Papa Sam began his relationship with U.C.L.A. basketball in the mid-1960s, when former All-America Willie Naulls brought two disgruntled sophomores, Lew Alcindor (now Jabbar) and Lucius Allen, to him for some counseling. Alcindor and Allen in turn brought their teammates, and Sam eventually negotiated the professional contracts of Alcindor, Allen and other Bruin stars, such as Sidney Wicks, Henry Bibby and Nater. Like all his other services, Gilbert's agentry comes free. "I do it because I'm a friend and also a savvy businessman who knows most of the tricks and clauses that the kids have no knowledge about."

When--and if--Bill Walton decides to negotiate a professional contract, Gilbert will call the financial shots. The San Diego Conquistadors, hoping to capitalize on the father-son relationship, recently approached Gilbert about buying the club. Gilbert rejected the deal. "I want to be Bill's friend, not his owner," he said.

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