REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL Returns to HBO

REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL, TV's most-honored sports journalism series, with a record 18 Sports Emmy® Awards for Outstanding Sports Journalism, returns for more enterprising features and reporting when the show's 259th edition debuts TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23 (10:00-11:00 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO.

The show is also available on HBO NOW, HBO GO, HBO On Demand and partners' streaming platforms.

For up-to-the-minute updates about REAL SPORTS, follow on Twitter at @RealSportsHBO or join the conversation using #RealSports, and on HBO.com/realsports and facebook.com/realsports.

Segments include:

*Tragedy in Texas. Fifteen-year-old Jordan Edwards, known as "Smiley," was an honor roll student with dreams of playing major college football. But on April 29, 2017, Edwards' dream was cut short when he was tragically shot to death by a Balch Springs, Texas police officer, becoming part of the disproportionately large share of unarmed black citizens killed by law enforcement in America. Initially, police claimed Jordan, his brothers and friends had threatened police with their car just before the shooting, but body camera footage, exclusively obtained by REAL SPORTS, reveals the last moments of Jordan's life and the truth about his death. REAL SPORTS correspondent David Scott travels to Texas to revisit the circumstances surrounding Jordan's shocking death.

Producers: Katie Melone, Naimah Jabali-Nash, David Scott.

*The Gateway to Chess. In the heart of St. Louis is one of the largest chess clubs in the world, across the street from the memorabilia-filled Chess Hall of Fame. Both initiatives have been spearheaded by uber-wealthy, local philanthropist Rex Sinquefield, who, armed with unimaginable wealth and RELENTLESS drive, has a vision to make his favorite game into America's too. The nation's "Gateway to the West," best known for baseball and beer, is falling hard for the game, due in large to Sinquefield's grassroots movement that includes more than one hundred public schools that have introduced chess into their curricula. REAL SPORTS correspondent Soledad O'Brien travels to the newly-touted chess capital of the world and meets Rex Sinquefield to learn more about his vision to make the classic game of strategy the modern American favorite.

Producer: Tim Walker.

*Magic Man. Former All-Pro long snapper Jon Dorenbos spent 14 seasons in the NFL, most of those seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles. Despite his success on the field, however, Dorenbos' love of magic has been the defining force in his life, offering the SALVATION that helped him through the darkest moments of his childhood. During a seemingly picture-perfect upbringing in the suburbs of Seattle, his father beat his mother to death in a fit of rage. Attempting to cheer up Dorenbos, a friend introduced the reeling adolescent to the art of magic and he was instantly hooked.

In 2017, Dorenbos was traded from Philadelphia to New Orleans, whereupon taking his physical he found out he had an aortic aneurysm which required heart surgery and ended his playing career. Host Bryant Gumbel, who first told this extraordinary story in 2014, reconnects with Dorenbos to discuss the life-saving trade and how once again magic is at the center of the healing process.

Producer: Chapman Downes.

On May 8, the 39th annual Sports Emmy® Awards honored REAL SPORTS for Outstanding Sports News Anthology, marking its fifth win in the category in six years.

On Jan. 16, the duPont-Columbia University awards committee for excellence in broadcast journalism honored REAL SPORTS. The show has now received four duPont Awards for broadcast excellence since 2006, more than any other sports journalism program.

The executive producers of REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL are Rick Bernstein and Joe Perskie.

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