O.J. Simpson, the former Buffalo Bills running back who had a Pro Football Hall of Fame career, but later became one of the nation’s most controversial figures, died Wednesday, his family announced. He was 76.
“On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer. He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren. During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace,” the Simpson family announced in a statement that was published Thursday morning on his verified social media account.
Simpson was reportedly battling prostate cancer. A report in February from a Las Vegas television station indicated that he had entered hospice care, but Simpson denied that at the time.
Simpson spent most of his 11-year career in the NFL with the Bills and is considered one of the greatest running backs of all time. His name is in gold on the Buffalo Bills’ Wall of Fame.
“O.J. Simpson was the first player to reach a rushing mark many thought could not be attained in a 14-game season when he topped 2,000 yards,” Pro Football Hall of Fame President Jim Porter said in a statement. “His on-field contributions will be preserved in the Hall’s archives in Canton, Ohio.”
His celebrated playing career, however, largely became overshadowed after he was arrested for the June 1994 stabbing deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, in Los Angeles.
The bodies of Brown Simpson and Goldman were found on June 12 outside her condominium in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles. Simpson was almost immediately dubbed a person of interest but rather than turn himself in, he infamously became the passenger in a slow-speed chase five days later. Live television cameras followed a white Ford Bronco driven by Simpson’s friend and former Bills teammate Al Cowlings through Los Angeles. An estimated audience of nearly 100 million people watched as the live coverage interrupted regular programming, including the NBA Finals.
At the time, Simpson was one of the country’s biggest celebrities – recognizable not just for his accomplishments on the football field, but his work as a broadcaster, Hollywood actor and pitchman.
In 1975, Hertz made him the first Black man hired for a corporate national ad campaign. The commercials featured Simpson running through airports toward the Hertz desk and young girls chanting “Go, O.J., go!”
His so-called “trial of the century” captivated the country, and brought into focus issues of race, domestic abuse, police misconduct and celebrity.
Simpson was ultimately found not guilty of murder in 1995. Two years later, however, a civil jury found him liable for the deaths of Brown Simpson and Goldman, and Simpson was ordered to pay $33.5 million to their families.
Born on July 9, 1947, in San Francisco, Simpson would first reach football fame playing for the University of Southern California. He was a two-time All-American who won the Heisman Trophy as college football’s best player in 1968, leading the Trojans to the national championship.
The following year, the Bills made Simpson the No. 1 overall pick in the AFL/NFL draft. In 1973, Simpson was named the league’s MVP as he rushed for 2,003 yards, gaining 200 yards on 34 carries in the final game of the season against the New York Jets at Shea Stadium. He broke Jim Brown’s record of 1,863 rushing yards in a single season that had stood for a decade, and his average of 143.1 rushing yards per game remains a single-season NFL record.
“From the moment that happened, I knew I was a part of football forever,” Simpson told The Buffalo News in 2018 of running for 2,000 yards. “I was the first guy to gain 2,000 yards and nobody could beat that, like being the first to hit 60 home runs or run the 4-minute mile.”
Nicknamed “The Juice” and running behind an offensive line known as the Electric Company, Simpson ran for more than 1,000 yards in each of the next three years following his MVP season. Over a five-year span from 1972-76, his 7,699 rushing yards were over 2,500 more than any other player.
Simpson ultimately won four NFL rushing titles, made five first-team All-Pro squads, played in six Pro Bowls and ran for 11,236 yards in nine years with the Bills and two more with his hometown 49ers. He scored 76 career touchdowns. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985 in his first year of eligibility.
After retirement, Simpson started a successful second career in both acting and broadcasting. He starred as Detective Nordberg in “The Naked Gun” movies and worked for NBC Sports during the Bills’ Super Bowl glory years.
His fame was a big reason his trial captivated the public and became a pop culture phenomenon. During his closing argument, the lead attorney of Simpson’s “legal dream team,” Johnnie Cochran, famously told the jury, “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit,” a reference to a leather glove found at the murder scene that Simpson tried on during his trial.
Simpson maintained his innocence after the verdict, even if the overwhelming public perception disagreed with the ruling.
“I don’t think most of America believes I did it,” Simpson told the New York Times in 1995, a week after he was found not guilty. “I’ve gotten thousands of letters and telegrams from people supporting me.”
Simpson’s legal trouble would not end with his not-guilty verdict.
In 2007, he was arrested for armed robbery after he entered a Las Vegas hotel room with a group of five other men – some of whom had guns – to confront memorabilia dealers and take back items Simpson believed belonged to him.
He was convicted of armed robbery and – on the 13th anniversary of his acquittal for double murder – sentenced to up to 33 years in prison.
He entered prison at 61 years old and ultimately served nine years before being released on parole and settling in the Las Vegas area.
Simpson remained a fascinating figure to the general public. He was the subject of an FX miniseries and ESPN produced a five-part documentary on his life.
“When people want to make money or get ratings,” Simpson told The News in 2018, “they’re going to pimp me. I know I’m going to get pimped.
“I watch nothing of me,” he said. “I didn’t watch it because I knew they were all haters, and people will say things that are just not true, and there’s nobody there to challenge them, and that would piss me off.”
A planned book in which Simpson offered his hypothetical account of the killings – tentatively titled “If I Did It,” was canceled after public outcry. Goldman’s family won control of the manuscript and published it under a new title – “If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer.”
Simpson is survived by four children: Arnelle, Jason, Sydney and Justin. A third child, Aaren, from Simpson’s first marriage to Marguerite Whitley – whom he married in 1967 when he was 19 years old – died at 2 years old when he drowned in the family’s swimming pool.
As of 4 p.m. Thursday, neither the NFL nor the Bills had commented on Simpson’s death.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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