O.j. Simpson
Simpson led the nation in rushing in 1967 when he ran for 1,451 yards and scored 11 touchdowns. He also led the nation in rushing the next year with 355 carries for 1,709 yards.
In 1967, he starred in the 1967 USC vs.
UCLA football game and was a Heisman Trophy candidate, but he did not win the award. His 64 yard touchdown run in the 4th quarter tied the game, with the PAT the margin of victory.
This was the biggest play in what is regarded as one of the greatest football games of the 20th century. Another dramatic touchdown in the same game is the subject of the Arnold Friberg oil painting, O.J. Simpson also won the Walter Camp Award in 1967 and was a two-time consensus All-American. He also ran in the USC sprint relay quartet that broke the world record at the NCAA track championships in Provo, Utah in June 1967.
In 1968, he rushed for 1,709 yards and 22 touchdowns, earning the Heisman Trophy, the Maxwell Award, and the Walter Camp Award that year.
In the 1969 Rose Bowl where #2 USC faced #1 Ohio State, Simpson threw a costly interception and fumbled the ball in a 16-27 loss in his final college game.
NFL
There was a regular-season game nicknamed for Simpson; it was the "O.J. Bowl", between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers, because it was thought the loser would get the first crack at drafting him.
The Eagles won that game 12-0 (on 4 field goals by Sam Baker); but it turned out that neither of those teams drafted him.
Simpson was drafted by the AFL's Buffalo Bills, who got first pick in the 1969 draft after finishing 1-12-1 in 1968. Early in his NFL career, Simpson struggled on poor Buffalo teams, averaging only 622 yards per season for his first three.
He first rushed for more than 1,000 yards in 1972, gaining a total of 1,251.
In 1973, Simpson rushed for a then-record 2,003 yards, becoming the first player ever to pass the 2,000-yard mark, and scored 12 touchdowns. He was named NFL Player of the Year in 1973, and played in six Pro Bowls.
Simpson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985, his first year of eligibility.
Family life
On June 24, 1967 Simpson married Marguerite L. In 1979, Aaren drowned in the family's swimming pool a month before her second birthday.
That same year Simpson and Marguerite were divorced.
On February 2, 1985, Simpson married Nicole Brown. They had two children, Sydney Brooke Simpson (born October 17, 1985) and Justin Ryan Simpson (born August 6, 1988), and were divorced in 1992.
Nicole Brown and her friend Ronald Goldman were murdered on June 12, 1994.
In 1979, he started his own film production company Orenthal Productions, which dealt mostly in made-for-TV fare such as the family-oriented Goldie and the Boxer films with Melissa Michaelsen and Cocaine and Blue Eyes, the pilot for a proposed detective series on NBC.
Simpson's amiable persona and natural charisma landed him numerous endorsement deals. On June 12, 1994 Nicole and her friend Ronald Goldman were found dead outside Brown's condominium.
After failing to turn himself in, he became the object of a low-speed pursuit in a white Ford Bronco SUV. The verdict was seen live on TV by more than half of the U.S.
The attorney for plaintiff Fred Goldman (father of Ronald Goldman) was Daniel Petrocelli. However, California law protects pensions from being used to satisfy judgments, so Simpson was able to continue much of his lifestyle based on his NFL pension.
In Florida, a person's residence cannot be seized to collect a debt under most circumstances. The Goldman family also tried to collect Simpson's NFL pension of $22,000 a month but failed to collect any money.
Related litigation
The civil and criminal trials of Simpson were not the only important legal cases that were spawned by the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman on June 12, 1994.
On September 5, 2006, Ron Goldman's father took Simpson back to court to obtain control over his "right to publicity" for purposes of satisfying the judgment in the civil court case. On January 4, 2007 a Federal judge issued a restraining order prohibiting Simpson from spending any advance he may have received on a canceled TV and book deal.
The matter was dismissed before trial for lack of jurisdiction. On January 19, 2007 a California state judge issued an additional restraining order, ordering Simpson to restrict his spending to "ordinary and necessary living expenses".
On March 13, 2007 a judge prevented Simpson from receiving any further compensation from a canceled book deal and TV interview. The book was renamed If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer, and comments were added to the original manuscript by the Goldman family, author Pablo Fenjves, and prominent investigative journalist Dominick Dunne.
Overdue income taxes
The State of California claims Simpson owes $1,435,484.17 in past due taxes.
A tax lien was filed in his case on September 1, 1999.
DirecTV satellite piracy case
On March 8, 2004, satellite television network DirecTV, Inc. Simpson alleged robbery
In September, 2007, a group of men entered a room at the Palace Station hotel-casino and took sports memorabilia at gunpoint.
Simpson was questioned by police. Simpson admitted to taking the items, which he said had been stolen from him, but denied breaking into the hotel room; he also denied that he or anyone else carried a gun. He was released after questioning.
Two days later, however, Simpson was arrested and initially held without bail. Along with three other men, Simpson was charged with multiple felony counts, including criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, assault, robbery, and using a deadly weapon. Bail was set at US$125,000, with stipulations that Simpson have no contact with the co-defendants and that Simpson must surrender his passport. Simpson did not enter a plea.
By the end of October 2007, all three of Simpson's co-defendants had plea bargained with the Clark County court.
Court officers and attorneys announced on May 22, 2008, that long questionnaires with at least 115 queries would be given to a jury pool of 400 or more. PST. The kidnapping charge could land Simpson in prison with a life sentence with parole, and the robbery convictions carry mandatory prison time. He could face more than 60 years imprisonment.
Arrest for contacting co-defendant
In January 2008, Simpson was taken into custody in Florida and flown to Las Vegas where he was jailed for allegedly violating the terms of his bail by attempting to contact Clarence "C.J." Stewart, a co-defendant in the trial.
District Attorney David Roger of Clark County, provided District Court Judge Jackie Glass with data that Simpson had violated terms of bail. Get Away With Murder: The Shocking Inside Story of Violence, Loyalty, Regret and Remorse.
Simpson said, "If she hadn't opened that door with a knife in her hand...she'd still be alive." This confirmed Gilbert's beliefs that Simpson had confessed. Simpson
Pro Football Hall of Fame: Member profile
College Football Hall of Fame: Member profile
Pro-Football-Reference.com - career statistics.
O.J.