Vikings Legends, Vol. 1 Alan Page

Throughout their history, the Vikings have had some legendary names grace the field in purple and gold. Some have gone on to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame, others remain fondly remembered only in the memories of Vikings fans, but they’ve all left an indelible mark on the history of our favourite franchise.

In this series, we’re shining a spotlight on some of the greatest Vikings and reminding you exactly why they’re so beloved. This time, a man who went from the gridiron to the gavel: defensive tackle Alan Page.

Where it all began

Born on 7 August 1945 in Canton, Ohio, there could not be a more appropriate birthplace for someone of footballing stature as great as Alan Page than the city where the league that would go on to become the NFL was founded. From an early age, his parents instilled in him an attitude of excellence; Page would later quote them as saying, “you want to be a doctor, be the best doctor you can be; you want to be a garbage collector, be the best garbage collector you can be.”

Despite the death of his mother when he was 13, Page excelled academically and expressed a desire to practise law one day, but his exploits on the sports field were just as good as in the classroom. Although he began his football career in high school as an All-Ohio offensive tackle, his arrival at the University of Notre Dame coincided with a switch of position to defensive end. As a senior in 1966, he was a consensus All-American as the Fighting Irish claimed the national championship.

Into the NFL

His performances caught the eye of NFL scouts, but it was the Vikings – entering their seventh year in the league – who had the foresight to make Page one of their three first-round selections in the 1967 draft, taking him with the 15th overall pick. Upon his arrival in the Twin Cities, he made another positional change, moving inside to defensive tackle to take advantage of his 6’ 4”, 270 lb frame, and giving him the number 88 jersey with which he became synonymous. Coaches taught him to occupy a lane in the manner of a traditional defensive tackle, but his pass rushing instincts never left him and he took to freelancing his way into the backfield.

Although sacks weren’t officially recorded as a stat by the NFL until 1982, record-keepers have since gone back in the historical record to put numbers to Page’s dominance. In his rookie season, he led the team in sacks (8.5) and fumble recoveries (3), despite only starting 11 of a possible 14 games. Two years later, Page received his first All-Pro nomination, making the AP second team in recognition of his role in leading the Vikings to their first NFL title.

The legendary ‘Purple People Eaters’

Along with ends Jim Marshall and Carl Eller, as well as fellow tackle Gary Larsen, Page helped create a formidable defensive line affectionately known as the ‘Purple People Eaters’ for their aggression and desire to wreak havoc on opposing offenses – so much so that their motto was “meet at the quarterback”. Although he was relatively mild-mannered off the field, Page’s competitive spirit once he crossed the whitewash got him into hot water on many an occasion.

The group stayed together for seven seasons, until Larsen’s retirement in 1974, when he was replaced by Doug Sutherland, but while they each shone at different moments, it was Page who shone the brightest. As well as reaching nine straight Pro Bowls, he was a five-time first-team All-Pro, and in 1971, he made history by becoming the NFL’s first defensive player to be named league MVP, a feat only since matched by Lawrence Taylor 15 years later. He combined that with that year’s Defensive Player of the Year award, which he won again in 1973, as the Vikings made their way to appearing in their second ever Super Bowl.

Leaving Minnesota

Page led the team in sacks for the next three seasons, helping the Vikings to another Super Bowl in 1974, and peaking with an unofficial total of 18 sacks in 1976, when they made their fourth (and most recent) Super Bowl appearance. However, just 18 months later, Page’s career with the Vikings came to an unceremonious end as he was waived six games into the 1978 season and picked up by the Bears. He played in Chicago for another three-and-a-half years, but never reached the same heights as he had done in Minnesota, albeit marking his final professional football game with a 3.5-sack performance against the Denver Broncos.

At his retirement, Page had an unofficial total of 148.5 sacks, a number only bettered at the time by Deacon Jones, and still enough to put him eighth on the all-time list. More impressively, he never missed a game throughout his career; including the playoffs, he played a remarkable 237 consecutive games, starting all but the first three of his rookie year.

Page’s life after football

In 1988, a serendipitous reference to his jersey number, which the Vikings retired in September that year, Page was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, a building he had helped construct as a teenager in Canton. The Vikings further honoured Page by making him the second inductee into the team’s Ring of Honor after quarterback Fran Tarkenton, and he has since been named in the Vikings’ 25th and 40th anniversary teams, as well as a list of the 50 Greatest Vikings in 2010. On a wider scale, he was also voted into the NFL’s All-Decade team for the 1970s, and in 2019, he was included in the All-Time Team marking the league’s 100th anniversary.

But perhaps Page’s greatest achievement came off the field. While still playing for the Vikings, he enrolled in law school in Minnesota in an attempt to realise the dream he’d had as a kid of becoming a lawyer. He initially attended the William Mitchell College of Law in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in his second year with the Vikings, but dropped out after “about three weeks”, saying in 2023 that he “wasn’t focused, wasn’t committed and didn’t understand the work that was in front of [him]”.

However, he tried again 10 years later at the University of Minnesota Law School, becoming a Doctor of Law in 1978 and passing the bar the following year. In the offseason, he worked at a Minneapolis law firm, and in 1985 he was appointed Special Assistant Attorney General. He worked his way up the Attorney General’s office until in 1992 he was elected as an associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, becoming the first African American to do so. His re-election in 1998 saw him gather the largest number of votes in state history, and he was elected twice more in 2004 and 2010 before his mandatory retirement in 2015 at the age of 70.

Love of his life

Another highlight of Page’s time with the Vikings was when he met his wife Diane. Together they founded the Page Education Foundation, which provides assistance to students of colour in exchange for volunteer help with philanthropic projects in the Minneapolis area. In recognition of his work with young people in the area, the students of Minneapolis’s Alexander Ramsey Middle School campaigned to have it renamed Justice Page Middle School in 2017.

Diane also introduced Page to distance running. In 1979, he became the first active NFL player to complete a marathon, eventually going on to complete a further seven, as well as a 62-mile ultramarathon, but it was his commitment to running that was cited as the reason for his exit from the Vikings, after his weight dropped to 220 lb, below the team’s required minimum for his position. Since the early 1990s and into his later years, Page has turned out to support runners in the Twin Cities Marathon, playing his sousaphone and offering high-fives.

In 2018, only a month after Diane died of cancer, Page was honoured by President Donald Trump with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award that can be given to a civilian in the United States, for his contributions not only to professional football, but also to his community.

For all his personal accomplishments throughout his life, though, it is Page’s selflessness that has always shone through. All of his work and sacrifice has been in service of his fellow man, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, and it is that attitude that makes us proud to call him a Minnesota Vikings legend.

Video source: X / @Ren_Clayton