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African American, college football, Exposition Park, football, Heisman Trophy, L.A. Memorial Coliseum, NFL, O. J. Simpson, pro football, Santa Monica, Trojan Football, Trojans, University of Southern California, USC, USC Football, USC Trojans
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Photo courtesy of variety.com
PERSONAL MUSINGS OF THIS FOOTBALL AND MEDIA STAR AND HIS DIVISIVE LEGACY
At least in my opinion,
This was the greatest athlete in the history of the University of Southern California,
My evidence being that if you compare the Trojans’ eight Heisman Trophy winners,
This man was the only one who starred in a sport alongside football, as he set a world record in the 4×400 relay while wearing Cardinal and Gold.
He also had the best pro football career of any Trojan ever, as he was the first man to ever get 2,000 rushing yards in a season, getting 2,003 yards with the Buffalo Bills in 1973.
It was a foregone conclusion that he would be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which he was in 1985.
And most of all,
In the 1970s and 80s, except for Bill Cosby,
No black man of African descent in this country was more accepted into mainstream American society than this man.
He could go into more or less any conservative white neighborhood in the most conservative areas of these United States and be welcomed,
The evidence being how so many people hardly raised an eyebrow when he married his second wife, Nicole Brown.
All of this despite the fact that,
The African American community knew what kind of person O. J. Simpson really was, as the black press and black publications such as Jet magazine regularly reported his beating his first wife, Marguerite, and getting away with it because he was such a football, media, and movie personality who was everywhere and all over everything.
Because he was “The Juice”.
I don’t think I need to go into detail about how O. J. went through the greatest exposure of one’s true nature of all time in 1994 and 1995 during his “Trial of the Century”, where he was acquitted of murdering Nicole thanks to his “Dream Team” of lawyers, which included Robert Kardashian.
Who happened to be the father of reality household names Kim, Kourtney, Khloe, and Robert, Jr.
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Getting some of his many, many yards during his Trojan days. IN CASE YOU DON’T KNOW: He’s wearing #32. Photo courtesy of collegefootballfaniacs.com
Here’s a bit of a surprise regarding O.J…
I actually met the man in the spring of 1987.
It was at Memorial Park in Santa Monica,
I was a little league coach doing something regarding such, and he was watching his older daughter, Arnelle, play softball for Crossroads School.
Of course the general public didn’t know about his violent tendencies regarding his significant others at that time, so after someone pointed him out to me, I approached where he was sitting and asked for his autograph.
Which he gave, writing “Peace to you” along with his name.
While he wasn’t rude or nasty or anything like that, I will say that he gave an impression of being a tiny bit surly and standoffish, not the outgoing, friendly, and jovial guy that was the definition of his pubic persona in those days.
Unfortunately, by the time all that drama happened seven years later – the Ford Bronco chase up the 405 Freeway with his old friend Al Cowlings driving and him in the back threatening suicide and the subsequent trial featuring Kato Kaelin and company,
I had lost that autograph.
Which I kicked myself for a while as I could have sold that piece of paper and made some decent money during that period.
I reckon some of you are wondering this…
Do I think O.J. committed those murders?
My answer: YES.
The evidence was there, including the DNA, which should have made it an open-and-shut case as opposed to those nine months spent in that downtown L.A. courtroom.
But that’s neither here nor there now.
Incidentally, when he was sent to prison in Nevada for that incident in Las Vegas in 2009, one word popped into my mind…
Karma.
In other terms, “What goes around, comes around.”
Which was certainly the case for him as he spent eight years of a thirty-year sentence locked up.
As I type this, two other words are prominent in my gray matter regarding this man and his legacy…
Polarization.
and,
Divisiveness.
I’m pretty sure that’s how O.J. will ultimately be remembered, the way his incidents polarized and divided the bulk of this country,
Even more than his exploits on the football field for ‘SC and in the NFL.
I suppose that’s all I have to say regarding him.
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Simpson with iconic USC head coach John McKay (right). Photo courtesy of pinterest.com