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What: “The Game of Their Lives”

Where: HBO, tonight, 10

Professional football’s roots go back to the 1920s, but it wasn’t until the ‘50s that it became a major sport. That decade provided a bridge for the sport to go from a sandlot game to what it is today. NFL Films and HBO explore the coming-of-age decade in this excellent one-hour documentary.

Bert Bell was the NFL commissioner during the ‘50s. He died of a heart attack 10 months after what has been called “the greatest game ever played,” the 1958 championship game between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants. Bell’s role in the development of the league is examined at length.

Johnny Sample, a cornerback for the Colts and later the New York Jets, says one time he didn’t get his paycheck. “So I called the NFL office and he [Bell] picks up the phone. Do you think you can call the NFL office today and the commissioner picks up the phone?”

Many stars and characters from the ‘50s are part of the special. Art Donovan was certainly one of the characters. From Donovan: “People said, ‘Did you lift weights when you played?’ The only weight I Iifted was a 24-ounce can of Schlitz.”

Pat Summerall, a kicker for the Chicago Cardinals and New York Giants, says, “I said to my dad, ‘They offered me $6,000 to play pro football.’ He said, ‘Let’s see if I got this right: They offered you $6,000 to play something? I thought you had to work.’ I said, ‘What do you think I should do?’ He said, ‘I think you should take it.”’

Among other players interviewed for the special are Hugh McElhenny, Raymond Berry, Jon Arnett, Sam Huff, Tom Brookshier and Chuck Bednarik. Also interviewed is Jane Russell, who was married to the late Bob Waterfield. She tells one story about how she and her husband got around the league’s antiquated no-sex rules.