JULY 9

O.J. Simpson

Born July 9, 1947, in San Francisco, California

Retired Football Player, Actor, Spokesman, Broadcaster
O.J. Simpson

Original Name - Orenthal James Simpson
O.J. Simpson left a Las Vegas jail late Wednesday night (Jan. 16, 2008) after receiving a blistering rebuke from a judge who doubled his bail as he awaits trial for an armed robbery case.

Simpson got into a white Mercedes and was driven away without speaking to the media. He was expected to return to his Florida home Jan. 17.

Hours earlier, a judge ruled that Simpson violated his bail agreement by trying to contact a co-defendant in the case. She doubled his bail to $250,000 and sternly warned the former football star that he'd stay in jail if anything similar happened in the future.

Simpson, clad in jail attire, appeared in court after spending five nights and four days at the Clark County jail, where he arrived late Jan. 11 from Florida in the custody of bail bondsman Miguel Pereira.

Prosecutors say Simpson, identifying himself as "Miguel," telephoned Clarence "C.J." Stewart on Nov. 16, 2007 and expressed frustration with Stewart's testimony at a preliminary hearing, a court official said.

That was two days after a Las Vegas justice of the peace ruled that Simpson, Stewart and another co-defendant should stand trial on 12 charges, including kidnapping and robbery.

Simpson was freed Sept. 19 on $125,000 bail following his arrest on allegations he and several friends burst into a Las Vegas hotel room on Sept. 13 and robbed two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint.

Simpson has maintained that he was retrieving items that belonged to him. He and the two other men are scheduled to stand trial April 7. They all pleaded not guilty Nov. 28 to 12 felony charges.

Prosecutors allege Simpson and five other men burst into a room at the Palace Station Hotel, held two memorabilia dealers (Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Fromong ) against their will and flashed at least one gun while removing items.

Three of the men initially charged along with Simpson in the incident (Walter Alexander, Charles Cashmore and Michael McClinton) testified against him during a preliminary hearing under the terms of a plea agreement with prosecutors. Alexander and McClinton testified Simpson requested they carry guns and "look menacing" during the incident.

Neither Stewart, 53, a Simpson friend and golfing buddy from North Las Vegas, nor Charles Ehrlich, 53, a friend from Miami, are accused of wielding weapons during the incident.

Simpson said he only wanted to retrieve items that had been stolen from him and that he never asked anyone to bring guns to the hotel room at the Palace Station casino and he did not know anyone had guns.

Simpson, Ehrlich and Stewart were bound over for trial on Nov. 14 following a four-day pretrial hearing.

"This is what we expected," Simpson said. "If I have any disappointment it's that I wish a jury was here. As always, I rely on the jury system."

One of the memorabilia dealers, Bruce Fromong, was the first to testify in that pre-trial hearing that began Nov. 8. He said he had expected to meet with an anonymous buyer on Sept. 13 when Simpson burst into a hotel room at the Palace Station Hotel and Casino with a handful of other men, including one who pointed a gun in his face.

"O.J. was screaming, 'This is all my s---. This all belongs to me. You stole this from me. Let's pack up. Let's get out of here,'" Fromong testified.

Tom Riccio, a collector who set up the meeting, also played an audio recording of the confrontation he said he made. On it, Simpson is heard walking into the hotel room shouting orders, hurling profanities and repeatedly accusing people of stealing his things.

"Don't let nobody out of this room," Simpson is heard saying to the men accompanying him. Simpson can be heard yelling at the collectors: "Mother [expletive], you think you can steal my [expletive] and sell it?"

"We were just robbed at gunpoint, man," a man said toward the end of that six-minute recording. "We were just robbed at gunpoint by O.J. Simpson."

Also played was a 35-second voicemail recording that Simpson left for Riccio after the confrontation.

"Hey Tom. It's O.J. What are they talking about a gun? All I wanted was my stuff back again," Simpson is heard saying. Simpson also refers to hundreds of items taken from the memorabilia dealers as his "stolen stuff."

"Nobody had a gun, you know?" he said. "Ain't nobody had any guns."

The memorabilia taken included football game balls signed by Simpson, Joe Montana lithographs, baseballs autographed by Pete Rose and Duke Snider, photos of Simpson with the Heisman Trophy, and framed awards and plaques. The loot, valued at $80,000-$100,000, also included ties Simpson wore during his criminal trial for the 1994 murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman.

Simpson was acquitted of those murders in a highly publicized 1995 criminal trial. But two years later, a civil trial jury found Simpson responsible. He has auctioned off his sports collectibles, including his Heisman Trophy, to pay some of the $33.5 million judgment awarded in that civil trial.

Simpson was also planning to publish If I Did It, a "hypothetical" account of how he would have committed the murders. After a publishing deal fell through, a federal bankruptcy judge awarded the book’s rights to the Goldman family. They re-titled it "If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer," added additional comments and published it Sept. 12, the day before the Las Vegas robbery.

Orenthal James Simpson was born on July 9, 1947, in San Francisco. His aunt gave him the name Orenthal, which supposedly was the name of a French actor she liked.

At the age of two, Simpson contracted rickets, leaving his legs skinny, bow-legged and pigeon-toed. He had to wear a pair of shoes connected by an iron bar for a few hours almost every day until he was five. His parents separated in 1952.

Along with a brother and two sisters, he was raised by his mother (his parents separated in 1952) in the rugged, largely black Potrero Hill district of San Francisco. At age 13, he joined his first street gang, the Persian Warriors . One fight landed him at the San Francisco Youth Guidance Center for about a week during 1962.

Simpson played football at Galileo High School . And after breaking junior-college records at the City College of San Francisco, he was heavily recruited.

Simpson gained fame as a two-time All-American halfback for the USC Trojans, setting NCAA records and winning the Heisman trophy.

Simpson joined the professional Buffalo Bills in 1969 but did not excel until the offense was tailored to showcase his running. Also known by his nickname, The Juice, Simpson topped 1000 yards rushing five consecutive years (1972–76) and led the National Football League four times. In 1973 he became the first NFL player to rush for over 2,000 yards in a season.

After completing his career with the San Francisco 49ers and retiring from professional football in 1979, Simpson moved on to a profitable career in television commercials, as a sportscaster and an actor.

Ironically, Simpson played a man framed for murder by the police in the film The Klansman. He also appeared in the Naked Gun film comedies, playing a dim-witted assistant detective.

Simpson was also regularly seen in Hertz rental car television commercials, where he is seen leaping over luggage and other obstacles in an effort to catch a flight.

Simpson also worked as a commentator for Monday Night Football and the NFL on NBC.

Simpson married Marguerite L. Whitley on June 24, 1967. They had three children, including Aaren Lashone Simpson, born on September 24, 1977. In 1979, just a month before her second birthday, Aeren drowned in the family’s swimming pool. That same year, Simpson and Marguerite were divorced.

While still married to his first wife, Simpson met a waitress, Nicole Brown, then 17. Simpson married Nicole Brown in 1985. They had two children.

Brown Simpson often complained to friends and family of beatings by Simpson, but Simpson denied ever hitting her. Nicole filed for divorce in 1992.

On June 12, 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman, were discovered stabbed to death. When e vidence led police to suspect Simpson as the murderer, he fled (with a disguise and a passport) in his Bronco in a slow-speed chase seen on national television .

Simpson finally surrendered voluntarily at his Rockingham mansion. Later, he pleaded "absolutely, positively, 100% not guilty" to murder charges.