OJ Simpson died this Wednesday at the age of 76. The information was provided through a publication on his own page on the social network X (formerly Twitter). The former American football player had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in early 2024.
“On April 10, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer. He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren. In this time of transition, the family asks that you respect his wishes for privacy and elegance,” it reads in the note published on OJ Simpson’s page, a missive signed by the family.
OJ Simpson became famous through a dream sporting career, but few now remember the former player for the skills he demonstrated in American football. In 1994, he was accused of the deaths of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman, her friend. He was acquitted by the jury in the double homicide case, but there are many who doubt OJ Simpson’s true innocence. The verdict caused waves of indignation, with the American football player forever remembered for his connection to this process.
The double homicide case would not, however, be the last time OJ Simpson found himself in trouble with the North American justice system. In 2008, 13 years after this case, the former American football star was arrested for kidnapping and armed robbery. OJ was sentenced to 15 years in prison in Las Vegas, leaving after nine years in prison.
On the American football field, OJ Simpson played for 11 seasons in the position of running back, career mostly spent serving the Buffalo Bills. He is considered one of the best players ever for his position, with the NFL (American football league) including him in the so-called “hall of fame” [corredor da fama]a list that brings together the best players.
He reached the Super Bowl three times and managed to win the NFL title once. His prestigious career as a senior player only served to confirm the premonitions of those who knew him during his formative years. In college football, OJ Simpson won the Heisman Trophy in 1968, an award given to the best player in the NCAA, the league that brings together North American universities.
Difficult childhood
Orenthal Simpson was born on July 9, 1947 in the city of San Francisco, in the state of California. His parents divorced when OJ was just five years old, in 1952. He was raised by his mother in a troubled neighborhood, becoming involved in a gang at 13 years old. A street fight led to his first arrest, in a juvenile prison, at just 15 years old.
While attending high school, Orenthal managed to break several state records, attracting the attention of multiple schools and unlocking scholarships to play football. Since that first contact with success, OJ Simpson hasn’t stopped. To a stratospheric rise in the last years of adolescence, the future “hall of famer” added up to an impressive university journey that culminated in the brilliant career already described.
With success on the pitch came fame and money. Before being implicated in the double homicide case, OJ Simpson was a respected and cherished personality by the American public, but everything changed in 1995, with the start of the trial.
“If the glove doesn’t fit”
On the night of June 12, 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were stabbed to death outside the home of OJ Simpson’s ex-wife. One of the discoveries made during the double homicide investigation was a glove covered in blood on the former player’s property. This would have been one of the props used by the alleged killer during the crime. Simpson refused to hand himself in and embarked on a low-speed chase behind the wheel of a Ford Bronco SUV.
During what became known as the “trial of the century”, the famous gloves were one of the props used by OJ Simpson’s defense. To demonstrate that he could not have been the former player wearing them on the night of the murder, the lawyers asked him to try wearing them. With a touch of theatricality in the mix, the image was given that the gloves were too small for OJ’s hands. It was at this moment that the most famous statement of the entire trial appeared, written by lawyer Johnnie Lee Cochran Jr.: ” If the glove doesn’t fit, they have to absolve.”
That’s precisely what the jury did, with OJ Simpson managing to contradict the narrative presented by the prosecution in court with the jury. Despite the favorable decision, the former player lived daily with the knowledge that a part of the North American population blamed him for these crimes. He died almost 30 years after the mythical trial, at the age of 76, defending his innocence until the end.