Minor Penalties to UCLA; Gilbert Implicated

Long-time UCLA booster Sam Gilbert appears to have been a central figure in a National Collegiate Athletic Assn. investigation of the Bruins basketball program, which culminated Monday in the announcement of relatively minor penalties by the NCAA’s Infractions Committee.

The NCAA committee censured the university for recruiting violations, and two scholarships were taken away for the 1988-89 school year. But university officials expressed relief that no probation period was involved, nor sanctions involving postseason play or television appearances.

Coach Walt Hazzard was linked to violations termed “minor, very technical” by university chancellor Charles E. Young.

But, Young added: “I hope that all of us have learned that minor and technical violations are important . . . They create a lot of problems and take up a lot of manpower allegations and time to resolve.”

The infractions committee report said it may consider additional penalties if UCLA does not take appropriate action against an unnamed booster involved in one of the recruiting cases.

That booster would appear to be Gilbert, with whom UCLA was ordered to sever ties by the NCAA in 1981, when the basketball program was placed on probation for two years.

Gilbert is not specifically named in the report, but he fit the committee’s description of a “well-known and highly identifiable representative of the institution’s interests . . . who had been involved in serious violations of NCAA rules in a 1981 infractions case.”

That booster is said to have paid the security deposit and rent on an apartment of a prospective student-athlete in the spring of 1985. A check for $1,211, signed by the booster’s son, was used as payment of the security deposit, the committee said. Another check for $1,146.27, signed by the booster, was used as rent payment, according to the report.

The athlete involved is believed to be Carl Pitts, a 6-foot 8-inch center-forward who subsequently failed to meet admissions requirements. UCLA athletic director Peter Dalis said that the school reported the violations in August, 1985, the day after Dalis was told of the payments by the booster.

Contacted Monday, Gilbert denied any involvement in the NCAA investigation, adding he knew nothing of payments for an apartment in 1985. Gilbert’s son, Michael, works with Gilbert in his building/development business.

The NCAA probe also focused on the recruitment of Sean Higgins, the All-City player from Fairfax High School who signed a letter of intent with UCLA last November, but later was released from that letter and subsequently enrolled at the University of Michigan.

There have been allegations of improper inducements, as well as a well-publicized family dispute, in which Higgins claimed he was coerced to sign with UCLA by his stepfather.

None of this was addressed by the NCAA report, which instead noted a minor violation involving an illegal ride given Higgins to the home of a UCLA booster.

That booster was Steve Antebi, who rented out his chaffeur’s quarters to UCLA star Reggie Miller, now a rookie with the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Assn.

Higgins told Sports Illustrated in February that Antebi invited him to his Holmby Hills house before he signed a letter of intent. At that time, according to the magazine, Antebi said he could make Higgins some money, get him a car and house him in the quarters where Miller lived.

“I was vindicated,” Antebi said Monday.

Antebi, 43, added that a school official told him “it was Sam Gilbert taking care of an apartment for Carl Pitts.”

Gilbert said he had no idea why Antebi would bring up his name. “I don’t even know Steve Antebi,” Gilbert said.

It would seem that UCLA’s immediate reporting of the incident in 1985 and UCLA’s argument that the booster was acting independently of the university avoided more serious sanctions.

UCLA’s scholarships will not be affected this season. The Bruins have 13 players on athletic scholarship now (the NCAA limit is 15). Four players on the current team are seniors, so without the penalty UCLA would be allowed to offer six scholarships to come up to 15. With the penalty, UCLA can offer only four for the 1988-89 school year.

There is no limit after that, so the Bruins can get be back on a par with other schools by 1989-90.

Hazzard called it a setback but said it was a fair ruling.

“Actually, I’ve been concerned about this inquiry for a long period of time,” said Hazzard, who said the investigation had not prolonged his negotiations for a multiyear contract extension. Hazzard and Dalis both said that Hazzard will sign an extension as soon as a final draft is drawn up.

“At this point, I’m relieved,” Hazzard said. “I think our program has weathered the storm. . . .

“The NCAA process was very fair, very just. They went through our program all the way with a broom and the results are what you see. We’re going to work harder at tightening up the ship . . . We regret the mistakes that were made, and we’ll try to correct them in the future.”

Hazzard is terming “mistakes” such violations as his giving a prospect a ride from the athlete’s home to the coach’s office on the UCLA campus, and on another occasion allowing one of his Bruin players who was hosting a prospect to give the prospect a ride home in Hazzard’s car.

Hazzard made a further mistake by issuing a denial the first time the NCAA asked him about it.

He explained that the rule was violated because he was trying to solve a problem of logistics: He couldn’t leave his two young sons, who were sleeping, home alone while he drove the prospect home--and that he had not been clear on the facts when he was interviewed during a long, late session on a Friday night during the season.

In answer to why he would refer a prospective athlete to his attorney for free legal help on an eviction, Hazzard said that the attorney billed the player, but he just did not pay the bill.

Hazzard also was found to have made improper contact with a visiting high school team at an all-star game on the UCLA campus and let a prospective athlete (reportedly Tito Horford) play in a pickup game with team members during his visit.