LAS VEGAS – Highly controversial former football player OJ Simpson has died at age 76 from cancer, his family announced through his official X account Thursday morning.
“On April 10, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, passed away following a battle with cancer. He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren. During this period of contemplation, his family asks that you respect his privacy and his mourning,” we could read on X.
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
— O.J. Simpson (@TheRealOJ32) April 11, 2024
The former NFL star, who was notably acquitted following a highly publicized trial in the 1990s for the double murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, died in Las Vegas.
Simpson’s lawyer also confirmed his death to the website TMZ.com.
Simpson played for the Buffalo Bills from 1969 to 1977, before continuing his career with the San Francisco 49ers in 1978-1979. He was later inducted into the Football Hall of Fame in 1985.
Simpson had become rich and famous through his career as a professional football player and actor, but his legacy was forever tarnished in June 1994.
American television channels broadcast his arrest live, following a slow pursuit in a white Ford Bronco on a California highway.
He transcended racial barriers as a star running back for the University of Southern California Trojans in the late 1960s, as a rental car agency spokesman in the late 1960s. in the 1970s, and as the husband of a pretty young woman with blue eyes and blond hair during the 1980s.
“I’m not Black, I’m OJ,” he liked to remind his loved ones.
“The trial of the century”
OJ Simpson
The population was stunned by “the trial of the century” broadcast live on television. His trial sparked racial tensions, debates about gender equality, domestic violence, the preferential treatment of celebrities in the American justice system and police brutality.
A jury in a criminal prosecution found him not guilty of murder in 1995, but another in a civil suit found him responsible in 1997 for the deaths of Brown and Goldman and ordered him to pay US$33.5 million. to their loved ones.
“Most people in the United States don’t believe I did it,” Simpson told the daily. New York Times in 1995, a week after he was acquitted of the Brown and Goldman murders. I got thousands of letters and telegrams from people who supported me. »
OJ Simpson still insane for this shit dawg pic.twitter.com/g0z2DLjWs0
— mair⭐️ (@301mair) April 11, 2024
A decade later, still stigmatized by the ruling in California, Simpson and five men he did not know found themselves in an altercation with two sports collectibles dealers in a cramped hotel room in Las Vegas. Two men who accompanied Simpson were carrying guns. A jury convicted Simpson of armed robbery and other misdeeds.
He was imprisoned at the age of 61 and served nine years in a northern Nevada penitentiary, where he worked as a gymnasium janitor. He was subsequently paroled in October 2017. The parole board listened to him repeat again that he was simply trying to recover collectibles belonging to him that had been stolen following his criminal trial in Los Angeles. Angeles.
“I’ve avoided conflict for most of my life, you know,” said Simpson, whose parole conditions fell toward the end of 2021.
« The Juice »
Simpson played 11 seasons in the NFL, including nine with the Bills, where he was nicknamed “The Juice” behind an offensive line that was called “The Electric Company.” He was named the NFL’s Most Outstanding Running Back four times, amassed 11,236 rushing yards, scored 76 career touchdowns and appeared in five Pro Bowls. His best campaign was that of 1973, when he collected 2,003 yards on the ground. He was the first running back in NFL history to accomplish this feat.
“I’m part of the history of this sport,” he said years later, remembering that season. If I’ve done something good in life, it’s good to leave my mark. »
Simpson was born July 9, 1947, in San Francisco, where he grew up in government-subsidized low-income housing.
After graduating from high school, he attended City College in San Francisco for a year and a half before enrolling at the University of Southern California in the spring of 1967.
Simpson won the Heisman Trophy in 1968. He accepted the trophy given to American college football’s Most Valuable Player on the same day his first child, Arnelle, was born.
He had two sons, Jason and Aaren, with his first wife. One of his sons, Aaren, drowned as a baby in a swimming pool in 1979, the same year of his divorce from Marguerite Whitley.
Simpson and Brown then married in 1985. They had two children, Justin and Sydney, before divorcing in 1992. Two years later, Brown was found dead.
“We don’t have to relive the worst day of our lives,” he told the Associated Press 25 years after the double murder. The subject of the day is the subject on which I will never speak again. My family and I have turned the page to enter a ‘zone without negative vibes’. We want to focus on the positive. »
2024-04-11 16:12:51
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