O.J. Simpson

Buffalo Bills running back and 1973 NFL MVP who became the first player to rush for over 2,000 yards in a season.

Orenthal James Simpson was born on 9 July 1947 in San Francisco, California, and overcame a childhood illness to become an electrifying running back at the University of Southern California, winning the 1968 Heisman Trophy by the largest margin in the award's history at the time. The Buffalo Bills selected Simpson first overall in the 1969 NFL Draft, and he developed into the finest running back of his era, becoming, in 1973, the first player in NFL history to rush for over 2,000 yards in a single season, a campaign that earned him NFL MVP honours with a still-standing yards-per-game record. Simpson, nicknamed "the Juice," led the NFL in rushing four times and earned five consecutive Pro Bowl selections, finishing his 11-season career with 11,236 rushing yards before retiring in 1979 and building a prominent post-football career as a Hollywood actor, television pitchman, and NFL broadcaster. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985. Simpson's public life was transformed in June 1994, when his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, were found murdered outside her Los Angeles home. Simpson was tried and acquitted of the killings in one of the most closely watched criminal trials in American history, though a subsequent civil jury found him liable for both deaths in 1997, ordering him to pay $33.5 million in damages. In 2008, he was separately convicted of armed robbery and kidnapping in Las Vegas, serving nine years in prison before his release in 2017. Simpson died of cancer on 10 April 2024, at age 76, a legacy his sport's own hall of fame acknowledged had been permanently overshadowed by the events that followed his playing career.

Explosive speed, exceptional vision, powerful runner with ability to break away for long gains

One of the greatest running backs in NFL history, revolutionized the position with his speed and agility

• Pro Football Hall of Fame 1985
• 1973 NFL MVP
• Heisman Trophy 1968
• 6x Pro Bowl
• 5x First-team All-Pro