{"id":868965,"date":"2026-08-26T11:08:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T11:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/868965\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T11:08:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T11:08:19","slug":"how-does-a-football-hall-of-famer-become-a-supreme-court-justice-let-alan-page-explain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/868965\/","title":{"rendered":"How does a football Hall of Famer become a Supreme Court justice? Let Alan Page explain"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article is part of our Life on the Other Side of the Game series<\/a>, which looks at the lessons former athletes have learned in retirement about success, fulfillment and perspective.<\/p>\n

An NFL career that ends in the Pro Football Hall of Fame is rare enough. But even fewer players have a second act that was just as successful, if not more so, than their football career.<\/p>\n

And one person can claim the following: a Hall of Fame career, an NFL MVP award, more than two decades as a Supreme Court justice and a Presidential Medal of Freedom.<\/p>\n

Alan Page did all of those things.<\/p>\n

As a member of the Minnesota Vikings\u2019 famed \u201cPurple People Eaters\u201d defensive line, Page was named MVP in 1971. After his career, he served on the Minnesota Supreme Court for more than two decades, becoming the state\u2019s first Black justice.<\/p>\n

Page and his wife, Diane, launched the Page Education Foundation, which has helped thousands pursue higher education. In 2018, he became the first former professional athlete to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.<\/p>\n

I wanted to speak with Page, 81, about the lessons he carried from football and the perspective he has gained in retirement.<\/p>\n

Mostly, I wanted to know: How could one person accomplish so much?<\/p>\n

Professional football and a judicial career seem very different, but I\u2019d love to know if there were core principles or skills that allowed you to achieve success in both.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Different only in that they are different things, but the core underlying principles that allow for success are the same, it seems to me, no matter what the endeavor is.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the ability to focus on the task at hand. It\u2019s the ability to work hard, the willingness to work hard. Perseverance. Thinking through a problem, analyzing it, making a decision, and then acting on that decision.<\/p>\n

You earned your law degree while you were playing for the Vikings and then practiced law during the offseason. You also had a family. What did it take to pull that off and show up as the best version of yourself?<\/p>\n

Understanding that when you\u2019re in the law school classroom, you\u2019re in the law school classroom, and when you\u2019re on the football field or a game is near, you\u2019re not at law school.<\/p>\n

And yes, while all of that was going on, I had a family and a life beyond football and law school.<\/p>\n

But when I reflect on that sort of thing, it\u2019s deciding that you want to do something, or that you\u2019re going to do something, and then consciously showing up, as you say, as your best self, or trying to be your best self, in whatever you\u2019re doing. So I didn\u2019t feel burnt out. I mean, if anything, I was energized and motivated by all of it.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have a lot of time to feel sorry for yourself when you\u2019re busy.<\/p>\n

I love that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Truth be told, my law school education was really a benefit. I had been playing professional football for nine years. Not that I\u2019d done everything you could do on the football field, but I\u2019d done quite a few of them. And so at some level, it becomes a little boring. Boring isn\u2019t quite the right word, but it becomes routine.<\/p>\n

The classroom and law school gave me something new to think about and do, beyond simply thinking about and performing on the football field.<\/p>\n

It actually probably extended my football career.<\/p>\n

Because you learn to appreciate it more when you step away from it?<\/p>\n

Well, at some level, it\u2019s a little too much time in the candy store. The need for something else in life comes along.<\/p>\n

\"Alan<\/p>\n

\n Alan Page played 12 seasons for the Minnesota Vikings. (Focus on Sport \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

What do you think is a skill from football that made you a better judge?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two things. One, the ability to focus on the task at hand, whatever that may be. Whatever the distractions may be, focusing on the job that\u2019s in front of you, what you\u2019re working on, and not getting sidetracked.<\/p>\n

And two, seeking excellence in whatever you\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

Your relationship with competition and success and excellence, did that change at all? Being in such a different field?\u00a0<\/p>\n

No, not at all. Because for me, seeking excellence means being as good as you can be at what you\u2019re doing, not as good as your competition is, not as good as the person next to you, but fulfilling your highest potential. Whether that\u2019s on the athletic field, in the law, or just in relationships. That elevates you in ways that I think seeking excellence to be better than somebody else really just limits you to the competition.<\/p>\n

I should note that the one thing I concluded early on is that success is not a destination. It\u2019s in some respects a man well traveled. It\u2019s the journey that\u2019s important, not the milestones along the way. Because once you reach a milestone, you\u2019re sort of saying, what was that all about?<\/p>\n

Can you tell me more about that?<\/p>\n

Well, I don\u2019t know that I can articulate why it\u2019s important, but I can tell you that from my experience \u2014 and I had the good fortune to reach a number of destinations \u2014 once you reach the destination, it\u2019s always, \u201cThat was all it was about?\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1971, after I was selected MVP, it was kind of a turning point for me because, first of all, it was unexpected. Second of all, as I said, once you\u2019ve done it, what\u2019s left?<\/p>\n

Do you want to do it again, or do you want to do something else? For me, I had to work through, mentally, the challenges of having achieved \u2014 at least the perception of \u2014 about as much success an individual can have on the football field.<\/p>\n

Do I walk away now because I\u2019ve accomplished what there is to accomplish? Or do I take another look at this and rethink how to go forward?<\/p>\n

I ultimately concluded that it was the journey, not the destination. It was working to be the best football player that I could be that was important, that was fulfilling, not simply being recognized for it.<\/p>\n

What does that process look like for you, to come to that kind of conclusion?\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was a lot of introspection.<\/p>\n

Even back then, before we had the internet moving us at warp speed, we as people tend to look at things and want solutions and answers. Well, I don\u2019t think it works that way.<\/p>\n

You have to reflect. You have to think; you have to really work your way through it. And that\u2019s what it took for me: a great deal of thinking about what does all this mean.<\/p>\n

When you look back on your judicial career, what was fulfilling about that particular journey?<\/p>\n

Absolutely every moment. I loved every moment. From the beginning to end.<\/p>\n

The challenges, the intellectual stimulation, working with other people, trying to understand how the facts interrelated with the law as it existed. Trying to understand and come to grips with those who disagree or saw the world in a different way than I did. And trying to use that to either strengthen or change or help understand what I was thinking.<\/p>\n

I just loved every minute of it.<\/p>\n

Was there anything from that side of your life that helped you understand things differently or taught you something the NFL didn\u2019t?<\/p>\n

That we don\u2019t have all the answers, no matter who you are. The fact that I was a Supreme Court judge didn\u2019t give me any monopoly on understanding the human condition.<\/p>\n

Quite frankly, the understanding that law was always a work in progress.<\/p>\n

I was always trying to do the best that I could with what was in front of me, making sure that I could, to the extent that it was humanly possible, account for my biases in my decision-making. And making sure that I treated everybody and every organization that came before the court the same.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, when I look back, what is really important to me \u2014 I understand we\u2019re talking about career here\u2029\u2014 but what I was most proud of actually is my relationship with my family.<\/p>\n

The woman who was the love of my life, well, has been the love of my life for 57 years, although she is no longer with us. That\u2019s what I look back on. That\u2019s the one thing.<\/p>\n

Family is the one time I allow myself to look in the rearview mirror.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s something about family that goes well beyond what you do. It becomes who you are, what you are part of. The football career and all those wonderful people and all the great things that happened, that ends and you move on. Same with the law. I worked with a number of incredible people, but that ends and you move on.<\/p>\n

Family doesn\u2019t end.<\/p>\n

I always like to leave it open at the end if there\u2019s anything else on your mind.\u2029<\/p>\n

One of the things I\u2019ve learned, and it\u2019s something I hadn\u2019t really thought about.<\/p>\n

One year I was visiting a school, and one of the students showed me their student calendar. On the back of the calendar, it said, \u201cBe kinder than you need to be.\u201d And that really struck me.<\/p>\n

That, as people, no matter what your endeavor is, no matter who you are, if we\u2019re going to survive, we need to figure out how to be kinder than we need to be.<\/p>\n

When I saw it, it was kind of one of those moments that takes your breath away. I just happened to see it. And it was like, \u201cWow, oh!\u201d<\/p>\n

It makes so much sense, right?<\/p>\n

Thank you for spending time with me. I always feel like I\u2019m learning in these kinds of conversations. And the goal is for other people to feel the same way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You said this a couple of times, but, well, the idea of ongoing learning. That was for me the beauty of life. You either grow or you\u2019re stagnant. And growing is so much more fun!<\/p>\n

The Life on the Other Side of the Game series is part of a partnership with Prudential. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This article is part of our Life on the Other Side of the Game series, which looks at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":868966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,1239,593,17796,85,3276],"class_list":["post-868965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-minnesota-vikings","tag-nfl","tag-peak","tag-sports","tag-sports-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}