O.J. TIMELINE
LASVEGAS— O.J. Simpson’s story represents one of the most dramatic falls from grace in the history of American pop culture.
A beloved football star in the 1960s and ’70s, he transitioned effortlessly to movie star, sports commentator and TV pitchman in the years that followed.
He kept that role until the 1994 killings of his ex-wife and her friend. A jury acquitted him, but many people believe he carried out the grisly slayings.
Here’s a timeline of major events in the life of Simpson, now 70, who is in Lovelock Correctional Center in Northern Nevada for armed robbery and was granted parole Thursday:
■ 1967: Simpson leads college football with 1,543 rushing yards in his first season at the University of Southern California.
■ 1968: Simpson rushes for 1,880 yards and 23 touchdowns to win the Heisman Trophy, college football’s top honor.
■ 1969: Simpson is picked first in the National Football League draft by the Buffalo Bills.
■ 1973: Simpson becomes the first NFL player to rush for 2,000 or more yards (2,003) in a season.
■ 1979: Simpson retires, having rushed for 11,236 yards, second most in NFL history at the time.
■ 1985: Simpson is inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
■ 1988: Simpson, who had appeared in TV shows and commercials since the late 1960s, co-stars in the first of the “Naked Gun” crime comedies, perhaps his most popular role.
■ February 1992: Nicole Brown Simpson files for divorce after seven years of marriage. It becomes final Oct. 15.
■ June 12, 1994: Nicole Simpson and a friend, Ronald Goldman, are stabbed to death outside her Los Angeles home.
■ June 17, 1994: Simpson flees with friend and former teammate Al Cowlings in a white Ford Bronco. The nationally televised slow-speed chase across Southern California freeways ends when police persuade him to surrender.
■ June 1995: During Simpson’s trial, a prosecutor asks him to put on a pair of gloves believed to have been worn by the killer. The gloves appear too small, leading defense attorney Johnnie Cochran to famously state in his closing argument: “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”
■ Oct. 3, 1995: Simpson is acquitted of murder.