Alan Page (born August 7, 1945 in Canton, Ohio) is a former football player who starred as a defensive lineman in the NFL, primarily with the Minnesota Vikings, and then went on to have a distinguished legal career, serving as a current Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. After graduating from a Catholic high school in his hometown of Canton, Page received a B.A. in political science from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. He was an All-American in football in 1966, and was selected by the Vikings in the 1967 NFL Draft. Although he had played defensive end in college, he was moved to defensive tackle with the Vikings. He played for Minnesota from 1967 until the middle of the 1978 season when he was released by the team. The Chicago Bears signed him and he played with the Bears until the end of the 1981 season. In 1988, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and is the first native of the Hall's home city of Canton to have been inducted. A street is named for him there. In 1979, he became the first NFL player to finish a marathon. In 1993, Page was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and in 2002 he was inducted into the International Scholar-Athlete Hall of Fame.
During Page's tenure, the Vikings won one NFL (1969) and 3 NFC (1973, 1974 and 1976) title games.
Page, who in 1971 was named the NFL's "Most Valuable Player," was the first defensive player to be accorded that honor since the inception of the award in 1938. Page was joined on this short list in 1986 by New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor. The two remain the only defensive players to have won the league's top regular season award.
He was also named the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year in 1971 and 1973. Page earned All-Pro honors 6 times and was voted to 9 straight Pro Bowls.
Page received a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1978 while at the same playing professional football full-time. He was a lawyer in private practice in Minneapolis from 1979 to 1984 with the law firm Lindquist and Vennum . In 1985, Page was appointed a Special Assistant Attorney General and was soon promoted to Assistant Attorney General. In 1992, he was elected to an open seat as an Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. He was re-elected in 1998, becoming the biggest vote-getter in Minnesota history. "Justice Purple People Eater" shares fame as a former football player with Justice Whizzer White of the U.S. Supreme Court, now deceased.
He is married to the former Diana Sims and they have four children. In 1988, he and his wife founded the Page Education Foundation, which helps minorities go to college. Justice Page has also expressed interest in becoming a public school teacher for a year or two upon retirement from the bench.
