Orenthal James Simpson, commonly known as O. J. Simpson or just O. J., was an American football running back, actor, and broadcaster. He played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills, and is regarded as one of the greatest running backs of all time. Once a popular figure with the American public, Simpson’s professional success was later overshadowed by his trial and controversial acquittal for the murders of his former wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994.
Simpson played college football for the USC Trojans, where he won the Heisman Trophy as a senior, and was selected first overall by the Bills in the 1969 NFL/AFL draft. During his nine seasons with the Bills, Simpson received five consecutive Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro selections from 1972 to 1976. He also led the league in rushing yards four times, in rushing touchdowns twice, and in points scored in 1975.
In 1973, he became the first NFL player to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season, earning him NFL Most Valuable Player (MVP), and is the only NFL player to do so in a 14-game regular season. Simpson holds the record for the single-season yards-per-game average at 143.1. After retiring with the San Francisco 49ers in 1979, Simpson pursued an acting and broadcasting career. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985.
In June 1994, Simpson was arrested and charged with the murders of Brown and Goldman. He was acquitted in a lengthy and internationally publicized trial, but found liable for the deaths three years later in a civil suit from the victims’ families. Prior to his death, Simpson had paid little of the $33.5 million judgment (equivalent to $64 million in 2023). In 2007, Simpson was arrested in Las Vegas, Nevada, and charged with armed robbery and kidnapping.
In 2008, he was convicted and sentenced to 33 years’ imprisonment, with a minimum of nine years without parole. He served his sentence at the Lovelock Correctional Center near Lovelock, Nevada. He was granted parole on July 20, 2017, which was the minimum sentence. He was released on October 1, 2017. In December 2021, Simpson was granted early release from his parole by the Nevada Division of Parole and Probation. He died in 2024 at the age of 76 from prostate cancer.
Some of the best quotes from O. J. Simpson are listed below.
- “Everybody’s got whatever problems they have. I refuse to let somebody’s mistaken beliefs affect my life.” – O. J. Simpson
- “Fear of losing is what makes competitors so great. Show me a gracious loser and I’ll show you a permanent loser.” – O. J. Simpson
- “I am actually for the first time looking forward to a litigation.” – O. J. Simpson
- “I bleed all the time. I play golf and stuff, so there’s always something, nicks and stuff, here and there.” – O. J. Simpson
- “I consider myself a relatively moral guy.” – O. J. Simpson
- “I could not tell you the date of my mother’s death. I could not tell you the date of my dad’s death. These are not dates that I find significant.” – O. J. Simpson
- “I did not have anything to do with these murders. Ever.” – O. J. Simpson
- “I didn’t beat her. I just pushed her out of bed.” – O. J. Simpson
- “I don’t know how often I can discuss one incident in my entire life, but I’ll continue to do that.” – O. J. Simpson
- “I don’t understand what I did wrong except live a life that everyone is jealous of.” – O. J. Simpson
- “I feel that my advances in the business world will shatter a lot of white myths about black athletes-and give some pride and hope to a lot of young blacks.” – O. J. Simpson
- “I had one fight in my adult life. I had the famous ’89 fight with Nicole, which she admits that she initiated the physical part.” – O. J. Simpson
- “I have always wanted to be liked and respected.” – O. J. Simpson
- “I really have reached a point where I can write a book about all of this.” – O. J. Simpson
- “I tend to watch a little TV… Court TV, once in a while. Some of the cases I get interested in.” – O. J. Simpson
- “I think I’ve been a great citizen.” – O. J. Simpson
- “If there wasn’t no fight, there wasn’t no weekend.” – O. J. Simpson
- “I’m absolutely, 100 percent, not guilty.” – O. J. Simpson
- “I’m enjoying the money, the big house, the cars; what ghetto kid wouldn’t?” – O. J. Simpson
- “In America you get as much justice as you can afford.” – O. J. Simpson
- “I’ve – all my life with Nicole [Brown], no matter what was going on, I handled it without being physical with her.” – O. J. Simpson
- “I’ve been very clear. I won. I didn’t commit the crime.” – O. J. Simpson
- “Life was good to me. I had a great wife, good kids, money, my own health – and I’m lonely and bored.” – O. J. Simpson
- “Life’s been good to me. Why am I so lonely and bored? I used to wonder why so many rich men commit suicide. I no longer wonder.” – O. J. Simpson
- “Money takes wings. The only thing that endures is character.” – O. J. Simpson
- “My NFL pension can barely pay my son’s tuition. You know, it’s very little money.” – O. J. Simpson
- “NFL owners should quit worrying about silly things like players celebrating in the end zone. They should give them something to really celebrate. Get rid of the artificial surfaces.” – O. J. Simpson
- “Nicole will come up in conversations where it’s in a part of the conversation. Or we may be somewhere and I would tell some story about their mother and I. You know, we always honor her birthday.” – O. J. Simpson
- “The day you take complete responsibility for yourself, the day you stop making any excuses, that’s the day you start to the top.” – O. J. Simpson
- “The only thing that endures is character. Fame and wealth-all that is illusion. All that endures is character.” – O. J. Simpson
- “There is no prayer so blessed as the prayer which asks for nothing.” – O. J. Simpson
- “There is no principle involved in my holdout. Only money.” – O. J. Simpson
- “Thinking… is what gets you caught from behind.” – O. J. Simpson
- “What do you mean you have my children at the police station? Why are my kids at the police station?” – O. J. Simpson
- “Women are my biggest defenders. It’s that bad-boy syndrome. Now girls chase me.” – O. J. Simpson
- “You don`t get mood swings from eating cornflakes.” – O. J. Simpson
