Orenthal James Simpson, a former NFL great, passed away at the age of 76, according to his family. According to his relatives, he lost the fight against cancer.
According to the family, “he was surrounded by his children and grandchildren,” on X. O.J. Simpson seemed to have it all after shattering records as an American football player: good looks, notoriety, and wealth.
However, all fell apart in 1994 when Simpson, who used his celebrity from athletics to launch a successful acting and sales career, was accused of killing his ex-wife and a male companion.
Simpson was famously cleared of those charges in 1995, but he was incarcerated for a botched armed robbery a few years later.
The scandalized former running back for the National Football League, who passed away on Thursday at the age of 76, will always be associated with the killings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.
America was riveted by his extraordinary, highly charged racial double murder trial in 1995, which garnered the title “The Trial of the Century.”
Following a quick ascent to fame that saw him go from a poor upbringing to the football field and then Hollywood, Simpson had a stunning fall from glory.
– From Poverty to NFL Fame –
Orenthal James Simpson was born in San Francisco on July 9, 1947. His father abandoned the family when he was five years old, leaving him to grow up in poverty and with rickets, a calcium and vitamin deficit that caused his legs to become twisted.
His mother made rudimentary braces by placing the incorrect shoe on each foot because she couldn’t afford a procedure. As a result, his legs became stronger and eventually he was able to run 100 yards in 9.9 seconds.
After winning the coveted Heisman Trophy at the University of Southern California in 1968, Simpson was selected first overall by the Buffalo Bills in the NFL draft the following year. Simpson was recognized as the best player in American collegiate football.
Having became the first rusher to accumulate more than 2,000 yards in a single season, he was named the 1973 NFL’s Most Valuable Player.
In 1985, Simpson was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame after retiring from football in 1979.
He briefly worked as a sports commentator before deciding to pursue a career in Hollywood.
Simpson has stated that he considers it fortunate that he entered the cinema during a period when the public was seeking more Black representation on the big screen.
He starred in a number of popular movies, such as “The Towering Inferno,” “The Naked Gun” trilogy, and “Capricorn One,” although he was never truly an A-list celebrity.
But he did hit it rich with corporate America, making millions of dollars with commercials for Wilson Sporting Goods, Foster Grant, Schick, Royal Crown Cola, and TreeSweet orange juice.
But what made him most famous were the classic Hertz rental car commercials where his football moniker, “The Juice,” ran through a packed airport wearing a three-piece suit.
The Main Suspect
He first encountered Nicole Brown, an 18-year-old waitress, in a disco on Beverly Hills’ Rodeo Drive in 1977.
At the time, Simpson was wed to Marguerite, his first wife. After their divorce, he wed Nicole in 1985.
Simpson and Nicole had a turbulent marriage with accusations of domestic abuse, ending in divorce in 1992. They had two children together.
On June 13, 1994, Simpson’s ex-wife and Goldman were found killed outside her home in the Los Angeles suburb of Brentwood.
Brown Simpson had received such a vicious stabbing to her throat that she nearly lost her head.
Simpson was quickly named the main suspect.
He led police on a crazy vehicle pursuit on the Los Angeles freeways five days after the murders, which was captured on camera and seen by millions of people.
After a while, he turned himself up, and his trial began in January 1995.
His nine-month trial captured the attention of the country and much of the globe, and it has been the topic of numerous television series, books, and documentaries.
At one point, Simpson was seen fumbling to try on gloves that had been discovered at the crime scene but didn’t seem to fit.
A not-guilty finding at the end of the trial caused division in the nation, mostly along racial lines.
However, Simpson was once more apprehended by the law.
After a run-in with two sports memorabilia sellers, he was arrested in Las Vegas in 2007 and charged with armed robbery, assault, and kidnapping.
Simpson asserted that all he was attempting to do was retrieve souvenirs from his athletic career that the sellers had purportedly taken from him.
This time, the jury returned a guilty verdict, and he was given a prison term ranging from nine to thirty-three years.
After being released from prison in October 2017, he was mainly invisible, but he interacted with followers on social media.
“The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story,” which was based on his narrative, received numerous Emmys, including outstanding limited series.
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