Alan Page --
the former pro football great turned Minnesota Supreme Court justice -- has made a career of encouraging minority students to go to college.
The state Supreme Court, where Page has served since 1993, sometimes convenes in local schools to hold hearings and then answer student questions in an effort to demystify the judicial process.
He’s the founder of the Page Education Foundation, which has provided mentoring and almost 3,000 scholarships to encourage Minnesota students to continue their studies after high school. Page also helped establish the Kodak/Alan Page Challenge, a nationwide essay contest encouraging urban youth to recognize the value of education.
Page won lasting acclaim on the gridiron playing with the Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears from 1967-1981. In 1971, he became the first defensive player in NFL history to receive the league's Most Valuable Player award.
In 1988, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. At that ceremony, Page focused as much on education as sports.
“At the very best, athletic achievement might open a door that discrimination once held shut. But the doors slam quickly on the unprepared and the under-educated,” Page said. “Instead of making a real investment in education that could pay itself back many times, our society has chosen to pay the price three times: once, when we let the kids through the educational system; twice, when they drop out to a street life of poverty, dependence and maybe even crime; and a third time when we warehouse those who have crossed over the line and gotten caught. The cost of this neglect is immense, in dollars and in abuse of the human spirit. We must educate our children.”Read more about him here, here and here.
This is the last post for my Black History Series. March is Woman's History Month so I will be preparing posts on Women for that month. Hope you have enjoyed the series, Hugs - jcs
3 comments:
Great series on Black History Month. Thanks for continuing to educated even though you left the formal profession!
Tom Dean
I have loved the series and learned so much.
I am glad to read that you're going to do Women's History month - I look forward to it.
All to often we think of the "dumb football player" or the "dumb jock". Alan Page, while not a typical football player, proves the point that we need to look beyond the obvious, beyond the external, beyond the skin, to find the real man (or woman) underneath.
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