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What: “Biography Close-Up: After the Game.”

Where: A&E;, Friday, 8 p.m.

This one-hour special looks at what happens to professional athletes after their playing days are over. Host Harry Smith interviews six who provide a pretty good perspective.

At one end of the spectrum is Alan Page, the hall of fame defensive tackle who is now an associate justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court.

At the other is J.R. Richard, whose pitching career was ended in 1980 by a stroke. For a while, Richard was living under a freeway overpass.

Others profiled are Wayne Gretzky, Bo Jackson, tennis’ Zina Garrison and Art Heyman, the 1963 college basketball player of the year from Duke who didn’t make it in professional basketball.

Page, the former Minnesota Viking star, talks about how his parents emphasized education. “I recognized early on that the skills of a defensive tackle aren’t transferable to much of anything,” Page says.

He also says, “It’s easy for professional athletes to lose sight of the real world. Everyone tells you how wonderful you are. It’s very intoxicating.”

Heyman says his mother always told him sports ruined his life. “Without sports, I probably would now be a lawyer with three kids,” he says. Instead, Heyman owns a bar in New York City. “Being a basketball star was both a blessing and a curse.”