O.J. Simpson, known for his prowess on the football field with USC and the Buffalo Bills, and later for the criminal and civil trials in the deaths of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman, died Wednesday after a cancer diagnosis, Simpson’s family announced via social media Thursday. He was 76.
Simpson was arrested for the June 1994 killings of Brown Simpson and Goldman. The sensational criminal trial mesmerized America for eight months and ended with Simpson’s acquittal. At a 1997 civil trial, he was found liable for the deaths, in a decision that was so widely anticipated that it was broadcast via split screen just as President Bill Clinton began his State of the Union address.
When Simpson retired after the 1979 season, he ranked second to only Jim Brown on the NFL’s all-time rushing list. Simpson, who played for the Bills and San Fransisco 49ers over his nine-year career, won the rushing crown four times and in 1973 became the first to surpass 2,000 yards. The NFL played only 14 games then, so his 143.1 rushing yards per game is still the record by a whopping 10 yards. Simpson’s best season might have been 1975, when he ran for 1,817 yards but scored 23 combined touchdowns.
Simpson also won the Heisman Trophy in 1968 as a member of the USC Trojans.