On the afternoon of Oct. 10, 1978, Vikings coach Bud Grant made a huge mistake. Thinking that longtime star defensive tackle Alan Page had lost too much weight during an offseason running program which was negatively affecting his performance, Grant released the future Hall of Famer.
"Alan can no longer meet the standard he set for himself," Grant said when explaining a transaction that shocked the Twin Cities as well as the rest of the football world. "He just can't make the plays anymore."
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| Alan Page was the first defensive player named league MVP. (Provided to SportsLine) | |
No one could believe what Grant was saying, least of all the Chicago Bears, who quickly ponied up the $100 waiver fee and signed Page to a contract for the rest of the season. He would go on to lead the Bears in sacks in 1978 and '79 before retiring -- on his own terms -- following the 1981 season.
But before things turned sour between Grant and Page, theirs was a reasonably happy co-existence as the Vikings won nine division crowns in the 11 full years Page played in Minnesota, missing only in 1967 and 1972.
Page was an All-American at Notre Dame and was a member of their national championship squad in 1966. The Vikings selected him in the first round of the initial combined NFL Draft, and he quickly lived up to his advanced billing. Grant had never permitted a rookie to start for him in his days coaching in the Canadian Football League, but Page broke the mold when he took over the right tackle position in his fourth game. For the next 11 years until his release, he never missed a start, a string of 156 games.
In 1971 he enjoyed one of the greatest seasons in NFL history and was recognized for his efforts by becoming the first defensive player ever named most valuable player in the league.
"I have never seen a player have a year like he did," said Buck Buchanan of the Kansas City Chiefs, a fellow Hall of Famer who knew brilliance when he saw it. "He was annihilating people. It was the kind of season you dream about as a player."
| Purple People Eaters |
| LE | Carl Eller |
| LT | Gary Larsen |
| RT | Alan Page |
| RE | Jim Marshall |
| LLB | Roy Winston |
| MLB | Jeff Siemon |
| RLB | Wally Hilgenberg |
| LCB | Nate Wright |
| RCB | Bobby Bryant |
| SS | Jeff Wright |
| FS | Paul Krause |
Overall, his career included 1,431 tackles, 164 quarterback sacks, 24 fumble recoveries and 28 blocked kicks.
"Page has remarkable reaction to the snap of the ball," Grant once said. "Most of the time he's into the blocker before the man can set up."
Jack Patera, who was the defensive line coach of the Vikings during the Purple People-Eaters heyday, said the greatest attribute Page possessed was his nose for the ball.
"Where the ball goes, Alan goes," said Patera. "It doesn't matter if it's a 60-yard pass, he turns and chases it down. That's how he recovers fumbles way down field. That kind of pursuit is something you try to instill in a player. But you can only improve a player's pursuit, you can't teach anyone to do it the way Alan does. It's in you or it isn't."
Page, who attended law school at the University of Minnesota while he was still playing for the Vikings, obtained his law degree and practiced until 1992. That year, he was elected to a seat on the Minnesota Supreme Court where he still sits today.
Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings