BEMIDJI -- Alan Page, Minnesota's first African-American state Supreme Court justice, former Minnesota Vikings player and pro-football Hall of Fame inductee, has been named the recipient of BSU’ 37th Distinguished Minnesotan honor and will deliver this year’s commencement address.
First presented by BSU in 1981, the Distinguished Minnesotan award “acknowledges the contributions of current or former residents of the state who have performed exemplary service to the people of Minnesota or the United States,” a release said.
The Distinguished Minnesotan traditionally addresses graduating seniors at BSU’s commencement ceremony, which this year is set for 2 p.m. Friday, May 10, at the Sanford Center. Page's address will be streamed online as part of the ceremony’s live coverage.
Page played for 15 seasons in the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears before pursuing a legal career. Page earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Notre Dame in 1967 and his law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1978. He served as an associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court until 1993 and is a member of both the College Football Hall of Fame (1993) and the Pro Football Hall of Fame (1988).
Also in 1988, Page and his wife, Diane, founded the Page Education Foundation, which assists Minnesota students of color in their pursuit of post-secondary education. To date, the foundation has awarded $15 million in grants to 7,000 students.
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Page and his daughter, Kamie Page, also have written three children’s picture books, “Alan and His Perfectly Pointy Impossibly Perpendicular Pinky," “The Invisible You," and “Grandpa Alan’s Sugar Shack."
In November 2018, Page received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Last year’s Distinguished Minnesotan honoree was author and former Bemidji professor Will Weaver. Past recipients include Anne McKeig, Trudy Rautio, Sen. Paul Wellstone, Herb Brooks and Sigurd Olson.
