Home > West's Encyclopedia of American Law > Page, Alan Cedric

Alan Cedric Page, former Minnesota Vikings football star, has served as an associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court since 1993. Page gained athletic fame as one of the four "Purple People Eaters" for the Vikings' defense who were essential to the team's ten division titles and four Super Bowl appearances during the 1960s and 1970s. While still employed full-time as a professional football player, Page attended the University of Minnesota Law School full-time and graduated in 1978. He is the first and only African-American supreme court justice in the state of Minnesota.

One of four children of Georgianna Umbles and Howard Felix Page, Alan Page was born on August 7, 1945, in Canton, Ohio, the home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. His mother, a country club attendant, and his father, a bar manager, always emphasized the importance of learning. They instilled strong values in him, and Page looked up to his parents as role...