Lost in the various arguments about Trump making bad jokes and maybe giving an award to someone simply for being married to a big donor is the extraordinary life of someone who was certainly deserving of the award: Alan Page.
Page's football career alone was historic. While helping lead the Vikings to four Super Bowls and anchoring one of the greatest defenses in football history, he also became the first defensive player to win the MVP, a feat later matched by Lawrence Taylor. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1988, his second year of eligibility.
More impressive, however, was his life off the field. While he was playing for the Vikings, he was also attending law school at the University of Minnesota. After getting his JD, he worked at a Minneapolis law firm during the offseason, and then worked for the Minnesota Attorney General after retiring from football. He was elected to the Minnesota Supreme Court in 1992 (becoming the first African-American member of the court), where he served for over twenty years, until the mandatory retirement age crept up on him. While on the court, he developed a reputation for clear and concise writing, saying once that he believed it was important for legal opinions to be written in such a way that even non-lawyers could understand the law. When it came time for him to leave, he was the senior justice by over a decade, and the seventh-longest serving in the court's history, but he would stomach no formal send-off, instead accepting only a brief thank you and acknowledgment from the Chief Justice, and even then, probably only because Page hadn't been informed it was coming.
While doing this, he and his (recently passed) wife Diane established the Page Education Foundation, an ingenius scholarship fund that awards grants to students of color from Minnesota who stay in-state for their secondary college education, but only if those recipients pledge to perform community service in the form of mentoring other Minnesota children. To date, thousands of students have received the grants, and they have in turn performed hundreds of thousands of hours of community service, creating a self-sustaining feedback loop of educational opportunity and preparation.
Page was critical of Trump's campaign, but when he found out he was going to be awarded the Medal of Freedom, he declined to use the opportunity to make a political point. Instead, he simply stated that he and his wife had always tried to make the world better in whatever way they could, and he was happy and proud to accept the award in recognition of that.
Alan Page is the antithesis of the stereotypical spoiled athlete. He used his talents and good fortune to improve the world around him and provide opportunities to others in need. And he did so while maintaining a decorum and humility fitting for his status as both a jurist and a Medal of Freedom recipient.
Page's football career alone was historic. While helping lead the Vikings to four Super Bowls and anchoring one of the greatest defenses in football history, he also became the first defensive player to win the MVP, a feat later matched by Lawrence Taylor. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1988, his second year of eligibility.
More impressive, however, was his life off the field. While he was playing for the Vikings, he was also attending law school at the University of Minnesota. After getting his JD, he worked at a Minneapolis law firm during the offseason, and then worked for the Minnesota Attorney General after retiring from football. He was elected to the Minnesota Supreme Court in 1992 (becoming the first African-American member of the court), where he served for over twenty years, until the mandatory retirement age crept up on him. While on the court, he developed a reputation for clear and concise writing, saying once that he believed it was important for legal opinions to be written in such a way that even non-lawyers could understand the law. When it came time for him to leave, he was the senior justice by over a decade, and the seventh-longest serving in the court's history, but he would stomach no formal send-off, instead accepting only a brief thank you and acknowledgment from the Chief Justice, and even then, probably only because Page hadn't been informed it was coming.
While doing this, he and his (recently passed) wife Diane established the Page Education Foundation, an ingenius scholarship fund that awards grants to students of color from Minnesota who stay in-state for their secondary college education, but only if those recipients pledge to perform community service in the form of mentoring other Minnesota children. To date, thousands of students have received the grants, and they have in turn performed hundreds of thousands of hours of community service, creating a self-sustaining feedback loop of educational opportunity and preparation.
Page was critical of Trump's campaign, but when he found out he was going to be awarded the Medal of Freedom, he declined to use the opportunity to make a political point. Instead, he simply stated that he and his wife had always tried to make the world better in whatever way they could, and he was happy and proud to accept the award in recognition of that.
Alan Page is the antithesis of the stereotypical spoiled athlete. He used his talents and good fortune to improve the world around him and provide opportunities to others in need. And he did so while maintaining a decorum and humility fitting for his status as both a jurist and a Medal of Freedom recipient.
