Ancient Buffalo Bills running back OJ Simpson It’s a name football fans won’t see at the team’s new stadium.
The new facility cost $2.1 billion and took three years to build, from groundbreaking to the grand opening last week. Highmark Stadium honors the Bills’ past with a wall of fame featuring team legends — but Simpson, the team’s No. 1 overall pick in 1969, will be notably absent, according to NBC affiliate WGRZ.
“We have made an organizational decision that it is not fit to display in our new stadium and in our family circle,” Pete Guelli, the team’s president of business operations, said in a statement to the station.
The Bills hosted nine of Simpson’s 11 NFL seasons, during which he became the first NFL player in league history to rush for 2,000 yards or more in a single season. Simpson was widely considered the best runner throwback to his time before retiring and embarking on a career as a broadcaster.
OJ Simpson of the Buffalo Bills runs during a game against the New York Jets in New York, NY on December 16, 1973.Focus on Sports / Focus on Sports via Getty ImagesSimpson was celebrated for his footballing legacy until the 1990s, when his life took a dark turn.
In the summer of 1994, Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman were stabbed to death outside his Los Angeles home. When police arrived to speak with Simpson after discovering the bodies, he didn’t open the door — and officers noticed a trail of blood leading from his car to his home.
Los Angeles authorities filed a murder charge and moved to arrest him, but Simpson fled, sparking the now-infamous chase in which he ended up in the back of a white Ford Bronco as news helicopters followed the vehicle on Southern California highways.
Simpson was ultimately acquitted in the 1995 criminal trial, known as the “Trial of the Century.” The case fascinated the nation for months. Some defended Simpson, pointing to evidence presented by his lawyers that suggested racism within the Los Angeles Police Department influenced the case. Others believed his wealth helped him escape murder.
Although he was never convicted of murder, Simpson was later found liable for deaths in civil wrongful death lawsuit brought by Ronald Goldman’s father.
Simpson’s reputation never recovered. In 2008, he was convicted of armed robbery in Las Vegas after targeting a sports memorabilia dealer — an incident Simpson maintained was an attempt to recover items stolen from him. He was sentenced to nine to 33 years in prison and served the minimum before being released on parole.
The Simpsons died of cancer at the age of 76.
