O.J. Simpson passed away on Thursday at the age of 76 from cancer, his family said.
O.J. Simpson Cause of Death:
O.J. Simpson passed away on Wednesday at his Las Vegas home. He became well-known as a football player and amassed a fortune as an all-American in television, movies, and advertisements. In 1995, he was acquitted of all charges related to the murder of his ex-wife and her companion at a nationally publicized trial. He was seventy-six.
His family posted on social media to confirm that cancer was the cause. The case, which had served as a cracked mirror for both Black and White America, altered the course of his life even though the jury in the murder trial found him not guilty. He was forced to pay $33.5 million in damages in 1997 after the families of the victims filed a civil complaint holding him accountable for the killings of Ronald L. Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson. After moving to Florida, he tried to start again, raise his kids, and avoid difficulty after making only partial payments on his debt.
He sold the book manuscript for “If I Did It” in 2006, along with an upcoming TV appearance in which he offered a “hypothetical” account of killings he had always denied doing. Both projects were shelved due to public uproar, but Mr. Goldman’s family managed to get the book rights, add evidence that implicated Mr. Simpson in the crime, and have it published.
He was taken into custody in 2007 when he and several other guys broke into the hotel room of several sports memorabilia dealers in Las Vegas and stole a large amount of artifacts. Although he maintained that the things had been taken from him, a jury in 2008 convicted him guilty of 12 offenses, including kidnapping and armed robbery, following a trial that gathered no more than a handful of media and witnesses.
Nine to thirty-three years in a Nevada state prison was his punishment. After completing the required time, he was freed in 2017.
The O.J. Simpson story has spawned a wave of reveal-all books, films, studies, and discussions about race relations, justice, and celebrity over the years in a country that loves its heroes, especially those portrayed in rags-to-riches clichés but has never been at ease with its more profound contradictions.
The Simpson tale had a lot of them. The earliest images of a postwar poor child with rickets and steel braces on his slender legs can be found in yellow old newspaper clippings. He also describes a hardscrabble life in a dilapidated housing project and hanging out with teenage gangs in the rough back streets of San Francisco, where he learned to run.
“Running, man, that’s what I do,” he remarked in 1975, at the height of his fame and income as one of the nation’s most prominent football players. He was the Buffalo Bills’ explosive, swivel-hipped ball carrier, dubbed the Juice by all. “I have been a runner all my life.”
O.J. Simpson Achivements:
And so he had, running for 11 years to daylight on the University of Southern California football field and in the National Football League’s thundering stadiums; running for television networks, Hollywood studio executives, and Madison Avenue image-makers; running to the highest echelons of athletic and entertainment success.
He broke college and NFL records, won the Heisman Trophy, and was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He became an American idol, a gorgeous warrior with kind eyes and a sweet voice, and he starred in several films and advertisements for Hertz and other companies. He also worked as a sports pundit for ABC and NBC, amassing mansions, vehicles, and a beautiful family. He also engaged in golf.
For the most part, it was the perfect existence. However, there existed a more profound and turbulent reality – regarding his baby daughter drowning in the family pool and his split from his high school love; his turbulent union with an attractive young waitress and her repeated calls to the police after he assaulted her; and the envious outbursts of an angry man.
Calls to the Police:
Nicole Simpson had several bruises and terrifying incidents as a result of the violence, but the police seldom took significant action. Officers discovered her hiding in the bushes outside their house, severely battered and partially nude, following one police call on New Year’s Day, 1989. She cried, “He’s going to kill me!” After being detained and found guilty of abusing his wife, Mr. Simpson was released on probation and fined.
Even after getting divorced in 1992, the couple’s arguments persisted. Ms. Simpson made another call to the police on October 25, 1993. She informed a 911 operator, “He’s back,” and police again stepped in.
Then it took place. Ms. Simpson, 35, and Mr. Goldman, 25, were assaulted on June 12, 1994, outside of Ms. Simpson’s apartment in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, which is close to Mr. Simpson’s home. Mr. Goldman was fatally stabbed, and she was on the verge of being beheaded.
Although the knife was never located, the cops did find several hair, blood, and fiber traces at the site, along with a bloody glove. Investigators thought that Mr. Simpson, 46, was the murderer from the beginning since they were aware of her previous abuse and her requests for assistance. They discovered a bloody glove at his house that matched the one found close to the bodies, as well as blood on his automobile. No additional suspect was ever identified.
After attending Nicole’s burial with their two kids five days later, Mr. Simpson was charged with the murders, but he drove away in his white Ford Bronco. The fugitive in the rear was threatening suicide and had a pistol to his head. The teammate and old friend Al Cowlings was driving the Bronco, which led a convoy of squad vehicles and news helicopters on a slow, televised 60-mile pursuit across the freeways of Southern California.
A national audience of ninety-five million people watched for hours as networks canceled prime-time programming to accommodate the spectacle, part of which was recorded by news cameras mounted on helicopters. Roadside stands and overpasses were packed with onlookers. The police blocked roads, and people stopped to observe. Some waved and applauded at the passing Bronco, which was unhindered forward. When Mr. Simpson eventually made it back home, he was arrested.
Nine months later, from January to early October 1995, the trial that followed enthralled the country with its graphic details of the killings as well as the strategies and tactics employed by the prosecution and defense, which included the “dream team” of Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., F. Lee Bailey, Alan M. Dershowitz, Barry Scheck, and Robert L. Shapiro.
The prosecution, led by Marcia Clark and Christopher A. Darden, presented what appeared to be overwhelming evidence, including DNA tests proving that the bloody glove found at Mr. Simpson’s home matched the one left at the crime scene and tests proving that blood, shoe prints, hair strands, shirt fibers, carpet threads, and other items found at the murder scene had come from Mr. Simpson or his home. A record of 62 instances of Mr. Simpson’s aggressive behavior toward his wife was also available to the prosecution.
However, as the case progressed before Judge Lance Ito and a jury of twelve, ten of whom were Black, it became clear that the police investigation had been faulty. Photographic evidence had been misplaced or mislabeled; DNA had been inappropriately taken and kept, potentially contaminating it. Furthermore, a pivotal witness, Detective Mark Fuhrman, acknowledged that he had broken into the Simpson residence without a search warrant and discovered the matching glove and other significant evidence.
‘If the Glove Don’t Fit’:
Although it was never established, the defense claimed that Mr. Fuhrman placed the second glove. But what hurt him more was how it attacked his past racist statements. Mr. Fuhrman vowed that he would not speak in a discriminatory manner for ten years. However, he was refuted, four witnesses damaged his credibility, and a recorded radio interview was aired for the jury.
The prosecution invited Mr. Simpson, who was not summoned to testify, to try on the gloves in what was viewed as the trial’s pivotal error. He had difficulty doing so. They were too little. “You have to acquit if the glove doesn’t fit,” Mr. Cochran informed the jury.
Ultimately, the defense possessed a strong case that met the criteria for acquittal—many reasons for reasonable doubt. However, it desired more. It accused a Black man of being railroaded and depicted the Los Angeles police as racist. It begged the jury to look above the case’s guilt or innocence to send a message to a society that is racialized.
The courtroom steps were crowded with autograph seekers, T-shirt sellers, street preachers, and photographers on the day of the decision. The jury debated for three hours throughout what some news sources dubbed “The Trial of the Century,” which had 126 witnesses, 1,105 pieces of evidence, and 45,000 pages of transcripts. The jury was sequestered for 266 days, the most prolonged period in California history.
A large portion of America came to a halt. People stopped to observe at malls, businesses, and airports. Bill Clinton even stepped out of the Oval Office to join his secretaries. Cries of “Yes!” and “Oh, no!” from the courtroom reverberated around the country as the ruling left many Black people in ecstasy and many White people horrified.
Subsequently, Mr. Simpson and the case served as the basis for over 30 novels, many written by individuals who gained millions of dollars, as well as television specials, movies, and books.
Along with Lawrence Schiller, Mr. Simpson created “I Want to Tell You,” a slim mosaic volume filled with letters, images, and self-deprecating comments that brought him over $1 million.Â
He was freed after 474 days in captivity, but his experience was far from done. Much of the case was revived for the Goldman and Brown families’ civil lawsuit. A primarily white jury that applied a lenient standard of proof found Mr. Simpson guilty and granted the family a $33.5 million damages award. Although Mr. Simpson said he had little chance of ever paying the damages, the legal lawsuit, which eliminated racial considerations as speculative and provocative, was a kind of retribution for the family.
For his criminal defense, Mr. Simpson had incurred significant costs. According to documents presented in the murder prosecution, his net worth was assessed to be $11 million, but after the trial, those with knowledge of the case stated that his net worth had decreased to barely $3.5 million. His Heisman Trophy and other artifacts brought in around $500,000 at auction in 1999, all of which went to the plaintiffs. Yet, according to court documents, he only made a small portion of the outstanding payment.
After regaining custody of his children from his relationship with Ms. Simpson, he relocated to Florida in 2000, purchased a house south of Miami, and established a tranquil lifestyle. He played golf and subsisted on around $400,000 in annual pensions from the NFL, the Screen Actors Guild, and other sources.Â
Even though the glitz and big-time deals were gone, Mr. Simpson continued to send his two kids to prep school and college. He was spotted at malls and restaurants, where he was happy to sign autographs. He was penalized once for speeding in a manatee zone while operating a powerboat and intercepting cable TV signals another time.
The father of Ronald Goldman, Fred Goldman, filed a lawsuit against him in 2006 as the debt owed to the families of the murder victims increased to $38 million with interest. Fred Goldman claimed that his book and television deal for “If I Did It” had given him $1 million and that the arrangement had been set up to defraud the family of the damages owed.
News Corporation, the company behind Fox Television Network and publisher HarperCollins, canceled the projects and stated that Mr. Simpson was not required to pay back a $800,000 advance. Following a bankruptcy court process, the Goldman family obtained the book rights from a trustee, and it was published in 2007 under the title “If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer.” The words “If” and “I Did It” were printed on the book’s cover in bold red letters and minuscule type.
An Additional Trial and Jail:
In 2008, Mr. Simpson was back in front of a jury after years in which it appeared he had been found guilty in the court of public opinion. This time, he was accused of breaking into a room at a hotel in Las Vegas in 2007 with five other men, two of whom were armed and the majority of whom had prior felonies against their records, to steal a significant amount of sports memorabilia from two collectibles dealers.
Mr. Simpson said that he had no knowledge of any guns and was attempting to recover objects that had been taken from him, such as eight footballs, two plaques, and a picture of himself with F.B.I. director J. Edgar Hoover. However, two of the four men who testified against him said they had carried firearms at his request. These individuals had been detained alongside him and had entered guilty pleas. The prosecution also presented hours of tapes that a co-conspirator had covertly recorded, describing the preparation and carrying out of the crime.
Thirteen years to the day after he was declared not guilty in Los Angeles, on October 3, a jury consisting of nine women and three men convicted him guilty of crimes including armed robbery, kidnapping, assault, conspiracy, and coercion. Mr. Simpson’s attorney pledged to file an appeal after his client was given a minimum nine-year jail term. He questioned the jurors’ ability to be fair to Mr. Simpson in light of the events that had occurred years prior and pointed out that none of them were Black. However, jurors stated that throughout deliberations, the double-murder case was never brought up.
Due to his good behavior while inside and his involvement in prisoner programs, the Nevada Release Board granted Mr. Simpson release in 2013 on several offenses stemming from his conviction for robbery. However, the board upheld other decisions. A Nevada court denied his request for a new trial, and legal experts predicted that his appeals would not be successful. He was detained until the parole board unanimously decided to give him parole on October 1, 2017, the day he became eligible.
Travel limitations, avoiding contact with co-defendants in the robbery case, and abstaining from excessive alcohol use were among the parole requirements that Mr. Simpson had to fulfill until 2021, when they were removed, granting him total freedom.
The question of whether he killed Mr. Goldman and his former wife or not remained unanswered. Memorabilia dealer and former buddy Mike Gilbert claimed in a book published in May 2008 that Mr. Simpson had confessed the crimes to him after the trial while under the influence of marijuana. Mr. Simpson said, according to Mr. Gilbert, that he had not brought a knife with him but had instead used one that Ms. Simpson had in her hand when she opened the door. Additionally, he added that Mr. Simpson had stopped taking his arthritis medication, causing his hands to swell and making it impossible for him to wear the gloves in court. Yale L. Galanter, the attorney for Mr. Simpson, dismissed Mr. Gilbert’s allegations, labeling him insane.
In 2016, almost two decades following his homicide trial, O.J. Simpson’s narrative was aired twice more for a never-ending fascination among large television viewers. Ryan Murphy’s FX anthology “The People v. O.J. Simpson” episode concentrated on the trial itself and the cast of personalities the defendant assembled. In addition to detailing the prosecution, “O.J.: Made in America,” a five-part, nearly eight-hour documentary on ESPN’s “30 for 30” series, they expanded the story to include a biography of Mr. Simpson and an analysis of race, celebrity, sports, and Los Angeles over the preceding fifty years.
“O.J.: Made in America” has “the grandeur and authority of the best long-form fiction,” according to A.O. Scott, who described “The People v. O.J. Simpson” as a “A densely packed, somewhat lewdly work of pop realism, Dreiser’s book has Tom Wolfe’s spirit in it.” in a commentary published in The New York Times.
O.J. Simpson: Who is He? & His Family Information:
Orenthal James Simpson, the eldest of James and Eunice (Durden) Simpson’s four children, was born in San Francisco on July 9, 1947. He spent several years wearing leg braces as a baby, suffering from rickets due to a calcium deficit, but he eventually outgrew his condition. His mother, a hospital nurse’s assistant, reared the kids in a housing project in the rough Potrero Hill neighborhood after his father, a janitor and chef, abandoned the family when the youngster was four years old.
As a youth, Mr. Simpson roamed with street gangs and detested the name Orenthal. He went by O.J. However, he met the well-known San Francisco Giants outfielder Willie Mays at 15, thanks to a buddy. Mr. Simpson explained how the event changed his life and was motivating. He joined the football squad at Galileo High School, where he finished his senior year as an All-City selection.
Mr. Simpson wed Marguerite Whitley, his high school sweetheart, in 1967. Jason, Arnelle, and Aaren were the couple’s three children. Aaren, then 23 months old, drowned in the family pool at home shortly after their 1979 divorce and passed away a week later.
In 1985, Mr. Simpson wed Nicole Brown; the two had a son named Justin and a daughter named Sydney. According to his attorney Malcolm P. LaVergne, he is survived by Arnelle, Jason, Sydney, Justin Simpson, and three grandkids.
2017 saw Mr. Simpson’s release from Nevada jail. Thinking it would only be a short stay, he moved into a wealthy friend’s country club in Las Vegas, James Barnett. However, Mr. LaVergne said he discovered he was having fun in the neighborhood golf scene and meeting friends—sometimes with strangers he met at restaurants. Mr. Simpson decided to live full-time in Las Vegas. He lived directly on the Rhodes Ranch Golf Club course when he passed away.
Mr. Simpson was always naturally gifted on the football field. His stunning speed, strength, and agility made him difficult to catch in a fractured field, much alone tackle. At San Francisco City College, where he started his college career, he scored 54 touchdowns in just two years. He moved to Southern Cal in his third year when he broke records by running for 3,423 yards and 36 touchdowns in 22 games. He also helped the Trojans win consecutive Rose Bowl berths. 1968, he was named the nation’s most outstanding college football player and received the Heisman Trophy. Several publications dub him the best rushing back in college football history.
Though it started slowly, his professional career was much more illustrious. The league’s worst club, the Buffalo Bills, selected Mr. Simpson as the first overall choice in the 1969 draft. He was utilized little in his rookie season and missed most of his second due to a knee injury. However, in 1971, he started cracking games open behind a line known as the Electric Company because they “turned on the Juice.”
Mr. Simpson was selected the N.F.L.’s most valuable player in 1973 after being the first to run for more than 2,000 yards, a record previously held by Jim Brown. He was the American Football Conference’s top rusher and scorer in 1975. After being moved to them after nine seasons, he played his final two seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, his hometown team. With a salary of almost $800,000, he left the league as the highest-paid player in 1979 after finishing his career with 61 touchdowns and more than 11,000 yards of rushing.
Mr. Simpson played football and concurrently worked as a network sports analyst. From 1969 to 1977, he worked as a color commentator for ABC, and from 1978 to 1982, for NBC. From 1983 to 1986, he returned to ABC for “Monday Night Football.”
Actor and Pitchman:
In addition, he pursued a career in acting. He acted in about 30 television shows and motion pictures, such as the comedy “The Naked Gun: From the Police Squad Files” and its two sequels, as well as the miniseries “Roots” (1977) and the films “The Towering Inferno” (1974), “Killer Force” (1976), “Cassandra Crossing” (1976), “Capricorn One” (1977), and “Firepower” (1979).
He made no pretense of being a serious performer. “It’s a realist,” he declared. “No matter how much training I got in acting, people still didn’t think I was Othello.”
Mr. Simpson was a friendly star. In addition to posing for photos with kids, signing autographs, and having open conversations with media and fans, he was also humble during interviews, respecting his coaches and teammates, who were fond of him. His lone act of militancy in an era of Black power shows was to make people laugh on the football field.
He was an ideal candidate for endorsements because of his easygoing demeanor, smile, and nearly universal acceptance despite his race. Before being drafted into the NFL, he inked contracts, such as a $250,000 three-year agreement with Chevrolet. Later, he began endorsing razor blades, soft drinks, athletic equipment, and more.
Hertz became the first Black celebrity in a nationwide television commercial campaign in 1975. He sprinted through airports and jumped over counters to get to a Hertz rental vehicle in memorable, long-running advertisements. Hertz rentals skyrocketed, he made millions, and O.J.’s visage became one of the most famous in America thanks to the advertisements.
On the day of his arrest, Mr. Simpson essentially wrote his farewell. A friend of his, Robert Kardashian, shared a handwritten note he had left at home, in which he expressed love for Ms. Simpson and refuted claims that he killed her as he traveled in the Bronco with a pistol to his head. He wrote, “Don’t feel sorry for me.” “I’ve had unique pals and a wonderful life. Please remember the real O.J. rather than this wandering individual.
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