On the soccer field, Simpson eluded tacklers with breathtaking speed and agility. He first gained fame as one of the greatest running backs in history. At the University of Southern California, he won the Heisman Trophy in 1968. He was drafted by the NFL’s Buffalo Bills in 1973 and became the first player to rush for over 2,000 yards in a single season. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
None of that quite captures the thrill of watching Simpson run. A linebacker comes at him inches away, and suddenly he zigs to the left or right or both in succession, and he’s gone. His running was charismatic. Add in the brilliance of his million-dollar smile and the perfect polish of his diction, and he became a charmer.Everyone loved O.J.
In his most famous TV commercial, for Hertz Rent a Car, he ran through an airport as if running through a defensive line. Simpson went from football star to Hollywood star in an instant. He also appeared in The Towering Inferno. He was starring in the groundbreaking television series Roots. He played Detective Nordberg in three “Naked Gun” movies. He was the host of “Saturday Night Live.”
But in 1994, he fled the brutal and bloody murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman in a white Ford Bronco. The ensuing low-speed chase on Los Angeles freeways was captured live by television cameras and broadcast around the world. That night I was watching the NBA Finals. It was frustrating at first when coverage of the game was interrupted for breaking news on the Broncos. Then I was transfixed.
Of course, all of that was just a prelude to Simpson’s greatest escape.
Both as theater and as a courtroom circus, it has never surpassed or even matched the Simpson murder trial. The character was indelibly vivid. The eager-to-please Judge Lance Ito, the obedient but competitive prosecutors Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden, and the cunning and sharp defense attorneys Johnny L. Cochran Jr. and F. Lee Bailey. Houseguest Brian “Kato” Kaelin. Simpson’s friend and counselor Robert Kardashian, the father of all things Kardashian. racist detective Mark Fuhrman; He plays a non-speaking role, and his gloves are covered in blood.
Throughout his career as a football player, actor, and celebrity, Simpson avoided speaking out on racial issues. He reportedly told his friends, “I’m not black, I’m O.J.” In fact, he was so beloved because he was seen as confrontational and non-threatening.
But faced with the prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison, he accepted his blackness. His new professed racial consciousness has led some (though not all, of course) black Americans to believe that he is at least another black person being brutalized by a racist justice system. I was able to think about the possibilities. After all, the trial was taking place just three years after the Los Angeles riots, sparked by a police officer who severely beat Rodney King who was found to have done nothing wrong.
Although the murder weapon, a knife, was never recovered, the evidence against Simpson was overwhelming. The trial took 11 months. The jury returned a shocking verdict of not guilty in less than four hours.
There is no doubt that he committed the murder. In 2007, Simpson plucked up the courage to write a book called “If I Did It,” which he said was a hypothetical story about how he committed the crime, but of course he didn’t. . He often argued about how the police should search for the “real culprit,” who must still be out there somewhere.
In 2008, Simpson was convicted of armed robbery and other crimes in Las Vegas and sentenced to 33 years in prison in connection with what he claimed was an attempt to recover stolen sports memorabilia. A call to fix a previous error. However, he was paroled in 2017 and spent the rest of his healthy life playing golf.
Indeed, it was a life in decline. He had only a fraction of his former wealth and status. His celebrity was of the most tainted kind. His desire for admiration will never be rewarded again. he was an outcast.
But O.J. Simpson died a free man. Although he zigzagged throughout his life, he was never caught.
