LAS VEGAS — The story of O.J. Simpson is one of the most dramatic falls from grace in the history of American pop culture.
Simpson's family announced on his official X account that he died Wednesday of prostate cancer at the age of 76.
He was a beloved football hero in the '60s and ’70s. After retiring from the NFL, Simpson's good looks and charisma helped him transition effortlessly to movie star, sports commentator and TV pitchman.
In 1994, his life came crashing down and his legacy was forever tarnished when his ex-wife and her friend were stabbed to death in Los Angeles.
O.J. Simpson timeline
July 9, 1947: Orenthal James Simpson was born in San Francisco and grew up in government-subsidized housing.
1967: He transferred to the University of Southern California and married his first wife, Marguerite. In his first season at USC, Simpson led all college running backs in rushing and the Trojans won the national championship.
1968: Simpson won the Heisman Trophy the same day his first child, Arnelle, was born. He also had two sons, Jason and Aaren, with his first wife.
1969: He was picked first in the NFL draft and spent the next nine seasons with the Buffalo Bills where he earned the nickname "The Juice." Simpson won four NFL rushing titles and played in five Pro Bowls.
1979: Simpson retired after rushing for 11,236 yards, the second-most in NFL history at the time. Aaren Simpson drowned as a toddler in a swimming pool accident that same year and he and Marguerite divorced.
1985: Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and married Nicole Brown. They had two children, Justin and Sydney.
1988: After appearing in TV shows and commercials since the late 1960s, Simpson co-starred in the first of the “Naked Gun” crime comedies. He also appeared in several dozen films and TV series, including 1974’s “The Towering Inferno,” 1976’s “The Cassandra Crossing,” 1977’s “Roots” and 1977’s “Capricorn One.”
1992: Nicole Brown Simpson filed for divorce after seven years of marriage.
June 12, 1994: Nicole Simpson and a friend, Ronald Goldman, are stabbed to death outside her Los Angeles home.
June 17, 1994: Ordered to surrender, Simpson instead flees in a white Ford Bronco, leading police on a nationally televised slow-speed chase across California freeways.
June 1995: Evidence found at the scene seemed overwhelmingly against Simpson. Blood drops, bloody footprints and a glove were there. Another glove, smeared with blood, was found at his home. During the murder trial, a prosecutor asks him to put on a pair of gloves believed worn by the killer. They appear too small, and defense attorney Johnnie Cochran tells jurors: “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”
Oct. 3, 1995: Simpson is acquitted after a televised trial that mesmerized a nation. The case sparked debates on race, gender, domestic abuse, celebrity justice and police misconduct.
“I don’t think most of America believes I did it,” Simpson told The New York Times a week after the trial ended. “I’ve gotten thousands of letters and telegrams from people supporting me.”
February 1997: The jury hearing a civil suit finds Simpson liable for the deaths and orders him to pay the victims’ families $33.5 million.
July 2007: A federal bankruptcy judge awards to Goldman’s family the rights to a book written as a first-person account in which Simpson discusses how he could have committed the murders. The family renames the book “(If) I Did It: Confessions of the Killer.”
September 2007: Confronts two sports-memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel room, angrily telling them that most of what they're planning to sell is rightfully his.
October 2008: Found guilty, along with co-defendant Clarence “C.J.” Stewart, of kidnapping, armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary and conspiracy; four other accomplices took plea deals and received probation.
December 2008: Sentenced to nine to 33 years and sent to Lovelock Correctional Center in northern Nevada. Imprisoned at 61, he served nine years in a remote Nevada prison, including a stint as a gym janitor.
October 2017: Released on parole.
May 2023: Announces that he has undergone chemotherapy for cancer.
February 2024: Denies entering hospice care, saying he was hosting friends at a Super Bowl party and that “all is well.”