O.J. Simpson, who died on Wednesday at 76, lived a life that made him some of the well-known individuals in America, in addition to, at varied occasions, probably the most celebrated and most reviled.

A Heisman Trophy winner when he performed soccer on the College of Southern California, he reached celebrity standing as a operating again with the Buffalo Payments. As a industrial pitchman and a Hollywood actor, he turned a family identify throughout a lot of America.

However fame turned to infamy when he was charged within the 1994 double homicide of his former spouse and her good friend. He was acquitted after a trial that riveted the nation.

Here’s a have a look at a person who by no means appeared to cease making information, for good and unwell.

1968

Heisman Trophy Winner

Mr. Simpson, who was born in San Francisco in 1947, first got here to the eye of many People as a soccer star on the College of Southern California. In his two years enjoying for the Trojans, he was the sport’s greatest operating again, and tallied 33 touchdowns.

As a junior in 1967, he was the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy as the school sport’s greatest participant, then won the award in 1968, his second and last 12 months at U.S.C.

1973

Skilled Stardom

Mr. Simpson was drafted first general by the Buffalo Payments in 1969, and by his fourth season he was a celebrity. In 1973, he ran for 2,003 yards, which stood as a report for greater than a decade, and gained the N.F.L.’s Most Priceless Participant Award; he was within the Prime 5 in M.V.P. voting three different occasions as properly.

He turned referred to as the Juice, and his expertise and likability propelled him to even larger notoriety. His on-field accomplishments and fame had been all of the extra spectacular on condition that he seldom performed for good groups; his solely playoff sport, a loss, got here in 1974.

He retired in 1979 after enjoying his last two seasons for the San Francisco 49ers.

1975

Pitchman

Even those that knew little about soccer bought to know the Juice as he started showing in tv commercials, notably a sequence of advertisements for Hertz beginning in 1975, during which he dashed by way of airports on his technique to get his rental automotive. “Nobody has more of what it takes to rent you a Fairmont, Mustang, LTD or other fine car faster,” he said in one ad.

He additionally tried his hand at saying, together with a stretch from 1983-85 on “Monday Night Football.”

1988

Hollywood Calls

Mr. Simpson started showing in tv and film roles at the same time as his soccer profession continued, together with some huge price range tasks like “The Towering Inferno” in 1975, during which he performed the constructing’s chief of safety, and the blockbuster mini-series “Roots” in 1977.

His greatest success, although, got here within the three “Naked Gun” movies, during which he performed Detective Nordberg. In a operating sequence of gags, Nordberg was repeatedly injured, usually in scenes performed for broad laughs. In a single particularly memorable scene, on the finish of the primary movie, Nordberg is seen flying down stadium steps in a wheelchair earlier than being catapulted off a ledge and flipping into the air.

Mr. Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and a good friend, Ronald L. Goldman, had been stabbed to dying at her dwelling in Los Angeles on June 12, 1994.

Mr. Simpson was questioned and charged with homicide. However he didn’t flip himself in initially. As a substitute, 5 days after the killings, he led the police on a weird, hourslong low-speed chase in a white 1993 Ford Bronco pushed by his good friend and former teammate, Al Cowlings. The chase was proven stay on practically each tv community, even pre-empting the N.B.A. Finals.

1994-95

‘The Trial of the Century’

Mr. Simpson’s trial lasted for 9 months and gripped the nation for all that point. A number of tv networks broadcast the trial on daily basis, and minor figures, like Kato Kaelin, who was staying in Mr. Simpson’s guesthouse on the time of the killings, turned celebrities.

In some of the riveting moments, Mr. Simpson was requested to attempt on bloody gloves discovered on the crime scene. Mr. Simpson claimed the gloves had been too tight; his lawyer Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. alluded to this in his closing argument, saying, “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”

The decision, regardless of important DNA and different proof, was not responsible on each counts. The outcome divided People: A majority felt it was a miscarriage of justice and continued to imagine that Mr. Simpson was responsible, whereas some, together with many Black People, believed the decision to be justified.

1997

Civil Judgment

After the acquittal, the dad and mom of Ms. Simpson and Mr. Goldman filed a wrongful-death lawsuit towards Mr. Simpson. The jury found Mr. Simpson liable and ordered him to pay greater than $30 million.

However Mr. Simpson stated that his not having performing and endorsement work meant he was broke. The households in the end obtained solely a small fraction of the judgment.

Mr. Simpson and a number of other different males entered a resort room in Las Vegas in 2007; Mr. Simpson claimed they had been in search of sports activities memorabilia that had been stolen from him. A gun was brandished.

Mr. Simpson was arrested and in 2008 and was found guilty of armed theft and kidnapping. He was released on parole in 2017 after serving 9 years of a 33-year sentence.

2017

Launch and Later Life

Upon his launch from jail in 2017, Mr. Simpson settled in Florida and led what was, for him, a comparatively low-key life. He performed plenty of golf and posted movies often on Twitter, typically opening with “It’s me, yours truly,” providing ideas on skilled sports activities and continuously urging his 800,000 followers to get vaccinated towards the coronavirus.

In his final post, on Feb. 11, Mr. Simpson, as regular wanting relaxed, spoke optimistically about his well being and incorrectly predicted that the 49ers would win the Tremendous Bowl.