In the hours after O.J. Simpson’s family announced Thursday that he had died of cancer at 76, some of the entities that had previously celebrated his football career − including the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Heisman Trophy Trust − issued statements or offered condolences to his loved ones.
Others, notably, did not − including the University of Southern California, the Buffalo Bills and the.
It’s nothing new. For decades now, the football entities that have honored or been associated with Simpson have continued to acknowledge his accomplishments on the field while apparently avoiding to spotlight him − or acknowledge, in any substantial way, the 1994 double-murder case and acquittal that took him from fame to infamy.
From the University of Southern California, where he starred as a college player, to the Buffalo Bills, with whom he won four rushing titles, Simpson has not been erased from any record books because of his legal issues, nor removed from Halls of Fame to which he was inducted.
But he hasn’t exactly had statues erected in his honor, either − a tacit recognition that his legacy off the football field has come to dwarf his statistics on it.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame published a news release in the immediate aftermath of Simpson’s death, as it does following the deaths of other members.
But it did not reference anything from his retirement, including the double-murder case that became a cultural phenomenon.
