SEGMENT 1

John Hoberman teaches languages at the University of Texas. He talks with Judith Strasser about his book "Darwin's Athletes: How Sport Has Damaged Black America and Preserved the Myth of Race." Also, Chet Walker , formerly an all-star player in the NBA and now a Hollywood TV and movie producer, tells Steve Paulson that he was used as a Black athlete by his mostly white college, but acknowledges that sports gave him many opportunities he would not otherwise have had. Walker's memoir is "Long Time Coming: A Black Athlete's Coming-of- Age in America."

SEGMENT 2:

Basketball fan and poet Dennis Trudell has compiled an anthology of basketball-inspired poems and short stories. He reads some samples and talks about them with Jim Fleming. The book is called "Full Court."

SEGMENT 3:

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is one of the most celebrated athletes in basketball history. After a great career at UCLA (where he majored in history), he led both the Bucks and the Lakers to NBA championships. Now he's written a book: "Black Profiles in Courage: A Legacy of African American Achievement" which chronicles the contributions of African-Americans in the New World starting in the sixteenth century. And none of the profiles is of an athlete. Abdul-Jabbar tells Steve Paulson why.

Distribution dates:

• week of 03/09/97 - hour 1
• week of 10/12/97 - hour 1