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O. J. Simpson

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O. J. Simpson
Career history
Buffalo Bills
San Francisco 49ers

Orenthal James Simpson (born July 9, 1947, San Francisco, California, United States), commonly known as O. J. Simpson and also just by his initials O.J. and his nickname The Juice, is a retired American football player who achieved stardom at the collegiate and professional levels. He later worked as an actor, spokesperson and broadcaster. Although considered one of the greatest running backs of all time, Simpson is infamous for having been tried for the murder of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman in 1994. He was acquitted in criminal court in 1995 after a lengthy, highly publicized trial (often called the "Trial of the Century" in America). In 1997, Simpson was found liable for their deaths in civil court, but to date has paid little of the $33.5 million judgment.[1].

Football career

High school

At Galileo High School in San Francisco, Simpson played for the school football team, the Galileo Lions.

College

Simpson played Junior College Football at the City College of San Francisco. He played both offense (running back) and defense (defensive linesman), and was named to the Junior College All American team as a running back. Simpson earned an athletic scholarship to the University of Southern California where he played running back for the University of Southern California in 1967 and 1968 after playing at a junior college from 1965 to 1966. Simpson led the nation in rushing with 1,451 yards and 11 touchdowns in 1967. In 1968, he rushed for 1,709 yards and 22 touchdowns, earning the Heisman Trophy, the Maxwell Award and the Walter Camp Award that year. He still holds the record for the Heisman's largest margin of victory, defeating the runner-up by 1,750 points. Simpson also won the Walter Camp Award in 1967 and was a two-time All-American (1967-1968).

NFL

Simpson was drafted by the National Football League's Buffalo Bills, who got first pick in the 1969 draft after finishing 1-12-1 in 1968. Early in his NFL career, Simpson struggled on poor Buffalo teams, averaging only 622 yards per season for his first three.

He first rushed for more than 1,000 yards in 1972, gaining a total of 1,251. In 1973, Simpson rushed for a then-record 2,003 yards, becoming the first player ever to pass the 2,000-yard mark, and scored 12 touchdowns. Simpson gained more than 1,000 rushing yards for each of his next three seasons.

Simpson's 1977 season in Buffalo was cut short by injury. Before the 1978 season, Simpson signed with the San Francisco 49ers, where he played two unremarkable seasons, but then got suspended for masterbating on the bench.

For his career, Simpson gained 11,236 rushing yards, placing him 14th on the NFL's all-time rushing list. He was named NFL Player of the Year in 1972, 1973, and played in six Pro Bowls. Simpson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985.

Family life

Simpson was born to Eunice Durden Simpson (October 23, 1921–November 9, 2001) and James "Jimmy" Lee Simpson (January 28, 1920–June 9, 1986). His parents were separated in 1952.

Simpson has one brother: Melvin Leon "Truman" Simpson, and two sisters: Shirley Simpson-Baker and Carmelita Simpson-Durio.

In his childhood, Simpson fought off a great deal of adversity. From ages three to five, he had to wear homemade braces after contracting rickets. In 1960, he joined the Persian Warriors, a San Francisco street gang, and was incarcerated at the San Francisco Youth Guidance Center in 1962.

On June 24, 1967 Simpson married Marguerite L. Whitley. Together they had three children: Arnelle L. Simpson (born December 4, 1968), Jason L. Simpson (born April 21, 1970) and Aaren Lashone Simpson (born September 24, 1977). In 1979, Aaren drowned in the family's swimming pool a month before her second birthday. That same year Simpson and Marguerite were divorced.

Acting

After his retirement from football, Simpson went on to a successful film career with parts in films such as the television mini-series Roots, and the motion pictures The Cassandra Crossing, Capricorn One, The Klansman, The Towering Inferno, Back to the Beach, and The Naked Gun trilogy. In 1979, he started his own film production company Orenthal Productions, which dealt mostly in made-for-TV fare such as the Goldie and the Boxer films opposite Melissa Michaelsen.[2][3]. Simpson was considered for the lead role in The Terminator, before it was decided audiences might not accept him as a villain because he was perceived as too "nice".[citation needed]

Simpson's amiable persona and natural charisma landed him numerous endorsement deals. He was a spokesman for the Hertz rental car company. He would often be shown running through airports, as if to suggest he was back on the football field. Simpson was also a longtime spokesman for Pioneer Chicken and owned two franchises, one of which was destroyed during the LA riots, as well as the pX Corporation, and he appeared in comic book ads for Dingo shoes.

Besides his acting career, Simpson had stints as a commentator for Monday Night Football and The NFL on NBC. He also hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live, but he was the only host not invited to attend the program's 25th anniversary celebration special in 1999.

Murder case

Criminal trial

Main article: O. J. Simpson murder case

Simpson pleaded no contest to a domestic violence charge and was separated from Nicole, to whom he was paying child support. On June 12, 1994 his former wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ronald Goldman were found dead outside Brown's condominium. Simpson was soon charged with their murders. After failing to turn himself in, he became the object of a low-speed pursuit. The pursuit, arrest and trial were among the most widely publicized in American history. The trial, often characterized as being "the Trial of the Century", culminated on October 3, 1995 in a verdict of not guilty for the two murders. The verdict was seen live on TV by more than half the U.S. population, making it one of the most watched events in American TV history. There has been significant criticism of the prosecution and the police, and many contend that Simpson would have been found guilty had there not been so many mistakes and irregularities. Conversely, the jury has fallen under criticism for their ruling as well as the defense team for their courtroom tactics.

Civil trial

On February 5, 1998 a civil jury in Santa Monica, California found Simpson liable for the wrongful death of Ronald Goldman, battery against Ronald Goldman, and battery against Nicole Brown. The attorney for plaintiff Fred Goldman (father of Ronald Goldman) was Daniel Petrocelli. Simpson was ordered to pay $33,500,000 in damages. However, California law protects pensions from being used to satisfy judgments, so Simpson was able to continue much of his lifestyle based on his NFL pension. A 2000 Rolling Stone article reported that Simpson also still makes a significant income by signing autographs. He subsequently moved from California to Miami, Florida. In Florida, a person's residence cannot be seized to collect a debt under most circumstances.

Simpson's life after the trials

Even after his two trials, Simpson was often in the news. He appeared in news stories that often had nothing directly to do with him.[citation needed] He was accused of illegally accessing signals from DirecTV. [4] In 1998 at the end of an interview conducted by Ruby Wax for BBC1, Simpson mimed stabbing her with a banana while mimicking the theme music from Psycho. [5]

In 1995 he published a book entitled I Want to Tell You: My Response to Your Letters, Your Messages, Your Questions (ISBN 0-316-34100-2).

In 1996 shortly after the trials, Simpson visited Britain. He gave a talk at the Oxford Union, where he was met by protesting women's rights groups. The protests concerned not the murder of Nicole Brown but the well-documented domestic abuse she suffered at Simpson's hands.

In 2001 he was tried for burglary and battery in a Florida road rage case that received some publicity, but he was again found not guilty. This verdict was also covered on live national television.

In 2002, Simpson considered becoming a news commentator for actor Robert Blake's murder trial. [6]

In 2003, Simpson filmed a pay-per-view comedy special titled Juiced. The show, a hidden camera set-up show, included a controversial sketch where Simpson attempts to sell the infamous white Ford Bronco at a used car lot, telling the salesman, "It was good for me. It helped me get away." A DVD is planned with extra and uncensored material. [7]

Prior to the 2004 Orange Bowl football game featuring Simpson's USC Trojans, the former football star showed up unannounced at a USC practice.

In June 2004 Simpson had planned a long series of news appearances to mark the tenth anniversary of the killings, but ended up being displaced by another story, the death and funeral of former President Ronald Reagan.

On November 14, 2006, Fox Broadcasting Company announced that it would be airing a two-part interview of Simpson, by book publisher Judith Regan, in which he would discuss the murders and promoted his upcoming book, If I Did It. On November 20 2006, News Corp, which employed Regan, announced it had canceled the program as well as the book [8], due to criticisms. [9] [10]. On November 22 2006 a copy of the book was listed on eBay. It was removed within three hours after over 50 bids, the highest of which was over $1,600. [11]

The January 22, 2007 issue of Newsweek included an article that reports on one part of the book seen by the article's author which is reported to read as "a seeming confession". [12] Simpson was advanced $1.1. million for his book, which was ghostwritten by Pablo Fenjves.[13]. Of that, Simpson was entitled to at least $655,000 despite the cancellation of the book.[14]

Simpson's Heisman Trophy has been auctioned off by Butterfield & Butterfield.

The civil and criminal trials of Simpson were not the only important legal cases that were spawned by the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman on June 12 1994.

  • Gerald Chamales and his wife, Kathleen, bought a house next to Simpson's estate in Brentwood at the corner of Ashford and Rockingham just ten days before the murders of which Simpson was accused. The media circus and hordes of curious tourists tormented them (and the rest of Simpson's neighbors) for the next four years. Their subsequent legal battle with the IRS culminated in the rule that they could not apply the drop in their house's value as a casualty loss deduction on their income tax return, because it was only temporary.
  • Simpson's house guest on the night of the murders, Brian "Kato" Kaelin, sued Globe Communications for $15 million after it ran a headline in one of its tabloid newspapers insinuating that Kaelin was the real murderer. The district court granted summary judgment to the defendant, but on appeal, Kaelin convinced the Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit that he had a valid claim for defamation. Kaelin settled his lawsuit for an undisclosed amount.
  • A New Hampshire intellectual property attorney, William B. Ritchie, challenged the validity of Simpson's trademarks under a federal statute that bars immoral, deceptive, or scandalous subject matter. Ritchie argued that because of the whole sequence of events from 1994 through 1997, Simpson's very name had become immoral and scandalous and thus could not be protected as a trademark. Ritchie convinced the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that he had standing to challenge Simpson's trademarks under the Lanham Act. Simpson has since abandoned his trademarks.
  • On September 5, 2006, Ron Goldman's father took Simpson back to court to obtain control over his "right to publicity" for purposes of satisfying the judgment in the civil court case. [15] On January 4, 2007 a US federal judge issued a restraining order prohibiting Simpson from spending any advance he may have received on a canceled TV and book deal. The matter will go to trial on January 24[16]. On January 19, 2007 a California state judge issued an additional restraining order, ordering Simpson to restrict his spending to "ordinary and necessary living expenses".[17]

Filmography

Civil and criminal trials

Preceded by Heisman Trophy Winner
1968 		Succeeded by
Preceded by NFL Most Valuable Player
1973 season 		Succeeded by

beaus long time friend that he ran from the cops with then went on to seeing OJ in a gay br dancing on the table, when beauy and oj met again they decided to go overdose off of some benydril and they went on to killing the innocewnt white loady..that had a white booty, then beau never got caught for the mureder when he really did it..if you read this please dont ell on beau, but the other accomplis was richard bruce phillips, whp helped get beau boyer pregnant at the age of 6. Now phillips coaches a baseball team at northeastern high school in north carolina. Richard phillips has been caught with beau boyer a couple of times now.

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