HOT CORNER

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What: “Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel.”

Where: HBO, tonight, 10.

John Wooden, at 93 and nearly 30 years into retirement, is still worthy of national television attention. Reporter Armen Keteyian visits Wooden at his Encino apartment in one of the four segments on the latest edition of HBO’s “Real Sports.”

Viewers will get a rare glimpse at some of the memorabilia Wooden has in his den, and will also hear from two of his greatest players, Bill Walton and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Says Walton: “I love going to his house, particularly his den. He has got the history of the world right there. All the books, all the memorabilia, the letters.”

Says Abdul-Jabbar: “The man’s an encyclopedia. If you want to talk about the Bible, or poetry, basketball, he knows it all.”

Also featured is Andy Hill, a benchwarmer on the Walton teams who didn’t talk to Wooden for 25 years. He finally called, and was so inspired he ended up writing a book, “Be Quick -- But Don’t Hurry,” with Wooden about their relationship. These days, the two are very close.

The other segments on this edition of “Real Sports” deal with the ESPN dramatic series “Playmakers,” the lack of African American pro golfers and a look at how the unlikeliest of sports, polo, has attracted kids from the hardscrabble streets of Philadelphia.

Gumbel does the reporting on the regression of the African American golf pro.

Despite Tiger Woods’ influence, there is evidence that the current era is less conducive for black golfers succeeding as pros than the 1960s and ‘70s.

Woods is the only player of African American heritage on the PGA Tour.

Gumbel interviews three prospective black golf pros. They all say the problem now is money and the lack of sponsorships.

-- Larry Stewart