O.J. Simpson at his 1995 murder trial
Orenthal James "O. J." Simpson (born July 9, 1947), is a former college and National Footbal League star, football broadcaster, television and movie actor, television commercial spokesmen, and a now a convicted felon. His football exploits earned him the nickname "The Juice," which is a play on his initials of O.J.
Orenthal James Simpson grew up in the poorer neighborhoods of San Francisco. As a youth, Simpson ran with a street gang called the "Persian Warriors," and frequently got into fights and other trouble. Despite this he became a star running back on the Galileo High School football team. His high school football exploits led him to continue playing football at City College of San Francisco, where he set rushing records that would stand for over a quarter of a century. After a year and a half at City College, Simpson transferred to the University of Southern California (USC), where he set many rushing records, and where he won the coveted Heisman Trophy in 1968. At USC in 1967, O.J. Simpson led the nation with 1,451 yards rushing and he scored 11 touchdowns. In 1968, Simpson rushed for 1,709 yards and 22 touchdowns, which earned him the Heisman Trophy, the Maxwell Award, and the Walter Camp Award. O.J. Simpson still holds the record for the Heisman's largest margin of victory. In the 1969 Rose Bowl, Simpson ran for 171 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown run in a 16–27 loss.
Simpson's football success in college led to his selection as the number one pick in the 1969 AFL-NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills. With the Bills, O.J. Simpson became the first professional football player to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season (1973). While five other players have now passed the 2,000 rush yard mark in a year, Simpson is still the only player to ever rush for more than 2,000 yards in a 14-game season ( the NFL changed to a 16-game season in 1978). Simpson also remains as the record-holder for the single season yards-per-game average which currently stands at 143.1 yards per game. O.J. Simpson was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985.
Following his football career, O.J. Simpson accelerated his acting career and also became a television sports commentator. One of O. J. Simpson's best known roles on television was as the spokesman for the Hertz rental car company. Hertz commercials featured Simpson running through airports, suggesting he was back on the football field as the star runner.
In 1995, Simpson was accused of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. After a lengthy and very well-publicized trial, Simpson was acquitted of the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. The trial, the People v. Simpson was, at the time, referred to as the "Trial of the Century." This trial propelled many of the participants into the public spotlight, and featured a group of well-known defense lawyers dubbed as legal " Dream Team." Simpson's defense lawyers included Robert Kardashian, Robert Shapiro, F. Lee Bailey, Alan Dershowitz, Barry Scheck, and Johnnie Cochran.
Though acquited, many people still considered Simpson to be guilty. Surveys detected a racial divide on this issue though, with most African-Americans believing Simpson innocent, while most white Americans saw him as guilty. In 1997, a civil court found Simpson responsible for their wrongful deaths of Brown and Goldman, and ruled against him for a $33.5 million judgment which Simpson was ordered to pay. In 2006, O.J. Simpson once again entered the spotlight by producing a book, titled, If I Did It (2006), in which Simpson writes a first-person fictional account of the murders as if he had actually committed them. This controvesial book was withdrawn by the publisher just before its release. The book was later released by the Goldman family with the edited title of If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer
. The Goldman family remains convinced that O.J. Simpson killed Nicole Brown.
In September 2007, Simpson was arrested in Las Vegas, Nevada, and charged with several felonies, including armed robbery and kidnapping. In 2008 he was found guilty and sentenced to a 33-year prison sentence, with a minimum of of nine years in prison without a chance of parole. Orenthal James Simpson is currently serving his sentence at the Lovelock Correctional Center in Lovelock, Nevada.
In June of 2011, O.J. Simpson again returned to the public eye as speculation rose about a potential interview with Oprah Winfrey, who publicly commented that she wanted to interview O.J. Simpson for her Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), and wanted to ask him if he did, indeed, kill Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman.
O.J. Simpson's mug shot after his arrest for the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
O.J. Simpson Football Awards and Honors:
1968: Heisman Trophy1968: Maxwell Award
1968: UPI Player of the Year
1967: Walter Camp Award
1967: UPI Player of the Year
1973: NFL MVP
1973: NFL Offensive Player of the Year
1973: Bert Bell Award
1973: Pro Bowl MVP
UPI AFL-AFC Player of the Year (1972, 1973, 1975)
1973: AP Man Athlete of the Year
NFL Pro Bowl selection (1969, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976)
NFL All-Pro selection (1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976)
NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team
NFL 1970s All-Decade Team
Year Film/TV Show Role Notes 1968
Ironside
Onlooker – uncredited
TV Episode – "Price Tag Death"
1968
Dragnet 1969
Student
TV
1969
Medical Center
Bru Wiley
TV Episode "The Last 10 Yards"
1971
Why?
The Athlete
short film
1972
Cade's County
Jeff Hughes
TV Episode "Blackout"
1973
Here's Lucy
Himself
(TV series) episode "The Big Game"
1974
The Klansman
Garth
oj
1974
O. J. Simpson: Juice on the Loose
Himself
TV documentary
1974
The Towering Inferno
Jernigan
oj
1976
The Cassandra Crossing
Haley
oj
1976
Killer Force
Alexander
oj
1977
A Killing Affair
Woodrow York
TV
1977
Roots
Kadi Touray
oj
1978
Capricorn One
Cmdr. John Walker
oj
1979
Firepower
Catlett
oj
1979
Goldie and the Boxer
Joe Gallagher
TV (executive producer)
1980
Detour to Terror
Lee Hayes
TV (executive producer)
1981
Goldie and the Boxer Go to Hollywood
Joe Gallagher
TV (executive producer)
1983
Cocaine and Blue Eyes
Michael Brennen
TV (executive producer)
1984
Hambone and Hillie
Tucker
oj
1985–1991
1st & Ten
T.D. Parker
Five episodes
1987
Back to the Beach
Man at Airport
Uncredited
1987
Student Exchange
Soccer Coach
TV
1988
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
Detective Nordberg
oj
1989
In the Heat of the Night
Councilman Lawson Stiles
TV episode "Walkout"
1991
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear
Detective Nordberg
oj
1993
CIA Code Name: Alexa
Nick Murphy
oj
1993
No Place to Hide
Allie Wheeler
oj
1994
Naked Gun 33?: The Final Insult
Detective Nordberg
oj
1994
Frogmen
John 'Bullfrog' Burke
unaired TV movie
2006
Juiced with O. J. Simpson
Himself
TV pay-per-view
Links and Resources:
Can O.J. Simpson Save the OWN Network?--TV.comToday in the news: Oprah wants O.J. confession--News-Star.com
Fallen Hero: When O.J. Simpson was the pride of City College--ETC.
O.J. Simpson--IMDB
O.J. Simpson-NFL.com-player stats and information
O.J. Simpson Criminal Trial Coverage --From Court TV
Famous American Trials: The O. J. Simpson Trial
5 year retrospective --From Jurist
O.J. Simpson Verdict Ten Years Later (PBS Frontline streaming video)
The Blog of Death: Robert Kardashian
Robert Kardashian--Wikipedia article
O. J. Simpson murder case--Wikipedia article
Family,
Career, and Personal Highlights for O.J.
Simpson Marguerite
L. Whitley -
1st
Wife (married
June 24, 1967; divorced 1979) Simpson and
Whitley had three children Nicole
Brown -
2nd
Wife (married
February 2, 1985; divorced 1992) Simpson
and Whitley had two children Children: Jason
L. Simpson (born April 21, 1970)
-Son
of Simpson and
MargueriteWhitley Aaren
Lashone Simpson (born September 24,
1977-died August, 1979)
-Daughter
of Simpson and
MargueriteWhitley Sydney
Brooke Simpson (born October 17,
1985) -Daughter
of Simpson and Nicole Brown Justin
Ryan Simpson (born August 6,
1988)-Son
of Simpson and Nicole Brown Education: 1966-1967:
City College of San
Francisco 1967-1968:
University of Southern California (did
not graduate; left college to enter the
NFL) Career/Occupation: 1969-1977:
Buffalo Bills (Running Back) 1978-1979:
San Francisco 49ers (Running
Back) Site
Map--revision
in progress
Arnelle
L. Simpson (born December 4, 1968)
-Daughter
of Simpson and MargueriteWhitley
1966:
Galileo High School (San Francisco),
High School Diploma
1968-1994;
2006: Actor (see O.J.
Simpson
filmography)
(See
O.J.
Simpson Football Awards and
Honors)