O J Simpson
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. He still holds the record for the Heisman's largest margin of victory, defeating the runner-up by 1,750 points.
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. 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.
Simpson gained more than 1,000 rushing yards for each of his next three seasons.
Simpson's 1977 season in Buffalo was cut short by injury. Before the 1978 season, the Bills traded Simpson to the San Francisco 49ers for a second round draft pick, where he played two unremarkable seasons.
Simpson gained 11,236 rushing yards, placing him 2nd on the NFL's all-time rushing list; he now stands at 16th.
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. That same year Simpson and Whitley 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. Simpson was charged in their deaths and subsequently acquitted of all criminal charges in a controversial criminal trial.
In the unanimous jury findings of a civil court case in February 1997, Simpson was found liable for the wrongful death of Ronald Goldman and battery of Nicole Brown.
Simpson in 1990 in Saudi Arabia while visiting American troops during the first Gulf War.
Acting
Even before his retirement from football and in the NFL, Simpson went on to a successful film career with parts in films such as the television mini-series Roots, and the dramatic motion pictures The Cassandra Crossing, Capricorn One, The Klansman, The Towering Inferno, and the comedic Back to the Beach and The Naked Gun trilogy. He would often be shown running through airports, as if to suggest he was back on the football field.
Simpson murder case
In 1989, Simpson pleaded no contest to a domestic violence charge and was separated from Nicole Brown, to whom he was paying child support. After failing to turn himself in, he became the object of a low-speed pursuit in a white Ford Bronco SUV.
The pursuit, arrest, and trial were among the most widely publicized in American history. Simpson's payment for appearing in the video game All Pro Football 2K8 was also seized.
A 2000 Rolling Stone article reported that Simpson still made a significant income by signing autographs.
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
Simpson's civil and criminal trials were not the only important legal cases that were spawned by the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
On September 5, 2006, 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. He ordered the bundled book rights to be auctioned.
In August 2007, a Florida bankruptcy court awarded the rights to the book to the Goldman family to partially satisfy an unpaid civil judgment.
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.
Alleged confession
Mike Gilbert, a memorabilia dealer, is a former friend of Simpson. According to Gilbert, 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 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. Cashmore accepted plea agreements in exchange for reduced charges and his testimony against Simpson and three other co-defendants, including testifying that guns were used in the robbery. Co-defendant Michael McClinton told a Las Vegas judge that he too would plead guilty to reduced charges and testify against Simpson that guns were used in the robbery.
Trial was reset from April to September 8, 2008.
Simpson and his co-defendant were found guilty of all charges on October 3, 2008. Simpson and Stewart will be sentenced in Las Vegas on December 5, 2008 at 9:00 a.m. 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.
The State of California claims Simpson owes $1.44 million in past due taxes. A tax lien was filed in his case on September 1, 1999.
In March 2004, satellite television network DirecTV, Inc. The company later won a US$25,000 judgment, and Simpson was ordered to pay US$33,678 in attorneys' fees and costs.
Filmography
Medical Center episode The Last 10 Yards (1969)
Cade's County (TV series) episode "Blackout" (1972)
Why (1973)
Here's Lucy (TV series) episode "The Big Game" (1973)
The Klansman (1974)
O.
Simpson was a pay per view special featuring Simpson doing candid camera antics with unsuspecting citizens. Simpson Profile at Rosebowl Legends
Secret Simpson Book Comes Out For Sweeps The Book Standard, November 2006
An Analysis of OJ Simpson's Admissions at StatementAnalysis.com
Civil and criminal trials
Court TV's O.J.
Simpson Verdict Ten Years Later (PBS Frontline streaming video)
FindLaw: O.J.