Long before he became an NFL legend and the most famous murder defendant in the United States — or even a boastful preteen who once told superstar running back Jim Brown, “I’m gonna break all your records” — O.J. Simpson was a toddler in the projects of San Francisco, with homemade leg braces and shoes worn on the opposite feet.
When the time came for him to walk, Simpson — who died Thursday at age 76 — did not. So his parents took him to a doctor at a hospital near the Potrero Hill neighborhood where his mother, Eunice, worked. It turned out “The Juice” had rickets, and his family couldn’t afford the leg braces that were needed to heal him.
So his parents made some. And from there, his story began. Those famous bow legs that developed from the braces turned Simpson into a Heisman Trophy winner and one of the greatest sprinters in the nation. As his athletic career began to fade in the NFL, he also became a movie actor and one of the top endorsement personalities of the 1970s and 80s.
That all went away when he was accused of murdering ex-wife Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman in June 1994, a notorious crime that was followed by a stunning police chase and a trial that riveted the nation’s attention.
Simpson’s football exploits first became noticeable when he attended Galileo High School, where he was selected All-City at running back. Yet even then, there were signs that the future might have dark clouds.
As a teenager, he joined a street gang called the Persian Warriors and did time at a youth guidance center.
“I never infringed on people,” Simpson told Playboy magazine in 1976. “I only beat up dudes who deserved it.”
According to a 2017 Rolling Stone article, police arrested Simpson at least three times during his teenage years, and it took a meeting with San Francisco Giants star Willie Mays to convince Simpson to change.
“He always said, ‘One of these days, you’re going to read about me,’ ” Eunice Simpson said of her son on the day he went into the Hall of Fame in 1985, according to a 1994 profile in the Tampa Bay Times. “And my oldest daughter would always say, ‘In the police report.’ ”
Simpson, whose given name was Orenthal James but went by O.J. since birth, graduated from Galileo in 1965, and attended City College of San Francisco for three semesters. Major colleges stayed away from him because of his grades and his reputation, he later said.
At CCSF, he played running back and defensive back and rarely came off the field. He was named to the Junior College All-American team for his exploits in the backfield, and led CCSF to a Prune Bowl win over Long Beach State in 1966.
After that season, Simpson became highly recruited and eventually chose USC over Utah. He led the nation in rushing in 1967 and 1968 and won the Heisman Trophy in ’68. The Bills drafted him first overall in 1969’s first-ever NFL-AFL common draft.
After nine seasons with the Bills, where he was the NFL MVP once, a six-time Pro Bowler and four-time rushing champion, Simpson’s football career ended where it started. He was traded to the 49ers in 1978 for future first-, second-, third- and fourth-round draft picks, but the homecoming was not the triumph everyone had envisioned. Simpson, hobbled by leg injuries, ran for just four touchdowns and 1,053 yards with the 49ers and retired after the 1979 season at the age of 32.
