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TOM CRANN: It's been 25 years since Alan Page and his wife, Diane, founded Page Educational Foundation. The Supreme Court Justice and pro football Hall-of-Famer started it with a commitment to students of color. That commitment goes beyond education.

The Page Foundation has awarded grants to thousands of students and has mentored them and encouraged community mentoring from them as well. Justice Alan Page joins me now for more on the foundation and its future, as well as his future. Welcome. It's good to have you here, Justice Page.

ALAN PAGE: Thank you. It's good to be here.

TOM CRANN: So the foundation comes out in reading-- I read that you founded the foundation because you had a sense that athletes are put on a pedestal, and you wanted another kind of pedestal as well for people in the community to be on. And what were you thinking there?

ALAN PAGE: Well, we treat athletes as something special, but the reality is that, as people, we're influenced by those who we can reach out and touch literally. And any given athlete, I don't care how good they are, how famous they are, they can only reach out and touch so many people. Yet, we have a whole world of young people who want to further their education and who would be perfect role models and mentors and tutors for even younger children.

TOM CRANN: So the ideas behind this is not just help some students get through school and financially support that. You're creating something different, more?

ALAN PAGE: The financial assistance piece is very important. We give out grants ranging an amount from 1,000 to $2,700, I believe, depending on how long they're in the program and where they're going to school. But we require for our grant recipients-- we call them paid scholars. We require them to go back into the community where they come from or into the community where they're going to school to work with young children, kindergarten through eighth grade, specifically in the area of education as tutors, mentors, and role models.

Our motto is creating heroes through education and service, and that's what our scholars do. They become heroes. Because in working with those young children, they literally change the future for themselves and those young children.

TOM CRANN: Why is this method of doing it important to you?

ALAN PAGE: Because the problems we face, the issues that students of color face, the issues that we as a society face are big problems. But they're people problems, and the solutions will be found in people like our scholars. And so as a foundation, our goal is to create the opportunities for people to really take advantage of the potential to change the world.

TOM CRANN: I want to talk about the Supreme Court a bit, and you have a new colleague coming on, David Lillehaug. And I wonder, in any case, for him or for any newcomer to an August body that is already there and seated and has procedures, what advice do you give to a new Supreme Court justice joining you on the bench?

ALAN PAGE: The advice that I have given in the past when asked-- only when asked-- is we're here trying to exercise our judgment as best we can. And we hope that they come along and bring their talents and do that very same thing. It's not about us. It's about the group, the institution. And as we go through cases trying to figure out what the right answer is, again, we are there to exercise our judgment, not to impose our will.

TOM CRANN: There is a mandatory retirement age, I hope you don't mind me saying here, in Minnesota, age 70.

ALAN PAGE: Age 70.

TOM CRANN: You've got a bit to go, but you're getting closer to that age, right?

ALAN PAGE: Fast approaching.

TOM CRANN: All right, fast approaching. And as you look at that, I wonder what you're seeing for your next chapter when age 70 arrives because this will be your last term on the court, right?

ALAN PAGE: I am in the-- my last term. I hope that I have the strength and the courage to possibly teach. I would like to--

TOM CRANN: At what level or grade or age?

ALAN PAGE: The early elementary years.

TOM CRANN: Really?

ALAN PAGE: First, second, third grade. And obviously, I'm not a teacher and haven't been trained as a teacher. But I have this belief that if we can teach children, particularly children of color, if we can interest them in the process of learning and if we can teach them to think critically, then we might be able to do something about the many problems we have educationally.

And I think the key to teaching them to think critically is reading and writing. The process of reading the process of writing forces you to think critically. And I would like to be engaged in that at some level.

TOM CRANN: To that aim of writing and reading, you have a new children's book out. And the subject of the children's book is your own pinky, right?

ALAN PAGE: Well, the title is Alan and his Perfectly Pointy Impossibly Perpendicular Pinky. The pinky is the part of the focus of the book, but the book is really about the child in all of us. It's about the curiosity and imagination that children have. It's about listening to children, paying attention to them, treating them with respect for their questions and their comments. And it's a fun story along the way.

TOM CRANN: Having success in any one field of endeavor, whether it's in professional football as an athlete or as a Supreme Court Justice, might be a lot for some people. And you have in both of those areas, and also with your foundation. I'm wondering what you would like, when you step down from the court, your legacy to be.

ALAN PAGE: Well, let me begin by saying, my view of success is the journey. It's not a destination. And so to the extent that there are those who think I've had success, I'm not so sure. But--

TOM CRANN: I think there are a couple of objectives. There aren't many people in the Hall of Fame. There aren't many people on the Supreme Court.

ALAN PAGE: All of that is true. But ultimately, for me, it's about the journey. And that's a little more difficult to measure objectively.

TOM CRANN: To gauge is the Page Foundation an important part of that for you?

ALAN PAGE: It's absolutely a critical part of that. That's been, for Diane and I, just an incredible part of our lives and our journey. The people we've gotten to know, the young people we've seen grow and develop-- you really couldn't ask for much more.

TOM CRANN: Justice Alan Page, thank you very much. I appreciate it.

ALAN PAGE: Thank you, Tom. It's been my pleasure.

TOM CRANN: Justice Page told me his foundation has supported the work of more than 5,000 scholars of all academic levels. And among its alumni are lawyers, doctors, and teachers. The foundation will celebrate its 25th anniversary with a gala at Target Field at 7 o'clock tomorrow night. The gala will also mark the official release of Alan and his Perfectly Pointy Impossibly Perpendicular Pinky.