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Timeline of O.J. Simpson's NFL career, murder trial, arrest, release and more
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O.J. Simpson, with the Buffalo Bills in the mid-1970s, was considered the best running back of his era.Focus On Sport / Getty Images

From football hero to murder suspect: An O.J. Simpson photo timeline

Simpson earned fame through football and show business, but all that was forever changed when his ex-wife and her friend were brutally knifed to death in June 1994.

O.J. Simpson was the star tailback for college football’s powerful University of Southern California in the late 1960s.

Simpson
O.J. Simpson holds the Maxwell Award, presented to him in Philadelphia on Jan. 20, 1969, as college football's outstanding player of 1968.Bill Ingraham / AP

Simpson then played 11 NFL seasons, nine of them with the Buffalo Bills, where he became known as “The Juice” on an offensive line known as “The Electric Company.”

Simpson married Nicole Brown in 1985. They had two children, Justin and Sydney, and divorced in 1992.

1980's O.J. Simpson
Nicole Brown and O.J. Simpson attend a function circa 1984 in Los Angeles.Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images

A passerby found Brown Simpson’s body near a gate to her West Los Angeles condominium in June 1994. Police found Ronald Goldman’s body in shrubbery nearby.

Blood-stained sheets are strewn along the entryway of the Los Angeles-area condominium of Nicole Brown Simpson on June 13, 1994 after she and her friend Ronald Goldman were found dead.
Blood-stained sheets are strewn along the entryway of the Los Angeles-area condominium of Nicole Brown Simpson on June 13, 1994, after she and her friend Ronald Goldman were found dead. Eric Draper / AP

Live TV coverage of Simpson's arrest after a famous slow-speed chase marked a stunning fall from grace.

A white Ford Bronco, driven by Al Cowlings and carrying O.J. Simpson, is trailed by police cars as it travels on a southern California freeway in Los Angeles on June 17, 1994.
A white Ford Bronco, driven by Al Cowlings and carrying O.J. Simpson, is trailed by police on a southern California freeway on June 17, 1994.Joseph R. Villarin / AP file
OJ Simpson Mug Shot
Simpson following his arrest on June 17, 1994. Kypros via Getty Images
Photo evidence presented on July 5, 1994, at O.J. Simpson's preliminary hearing, shows a glove described to have been found by Los Angeles police Det. Mark Fuhrman at the Simpson home in Los Angeles.
Photo evidence shows a glove described to have been found by Los Angeles police Detective Mark Fuhrman at the Simpson home. John McCoy / AP file

One of Simpson’s lawyers, Johnnie Cochran, coined a phrase that would endure in pop culture: “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”

O.J. Simpson holds up his hands before the jury after putting on a new pair of gloves similar to the infamous bloody gloves during his double-murder trial in Los Angeles on June 21, 1995.
Simpson holds up his hands on June 21, 1994, after putting on new gloves similar to the ones that were a key piece of evidence in his murder trial.Vince Bucci / AP file
 O.J. Simpson reacts as he is found not guilty in Los Angeles on Oct. 3, 1995.
Simpson reacts after being found not guilty on Oct. 3, 1995, with his lawyers F. Lee Bailey, left, and Johnnie Cochran Jr. Myung J. Chun / Pool via AP

A criminal court jury found Simpson not guilty of murder in 1995, but a civil trial jury found him liable in 1997 for the deaths and ordered him to pay $33.5 million to family members of Brown Simpson and Goldman.

Students at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, react to the announcement of O.J. Simpson's acquittal on Oct. 3, 1995.
Students at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, react to the announcement of O.J. Simpson's acquittal on Oct. 3, 1995. Larry Fisher / Quad-City Times / AP file
O.J. Simpson poses with unidentified members of his foursome
Simpson, second from right, poses on Oct. 17, 1995, at the Hombre Golf Course in Panama City Beach, Fla. Tracy Wilcox / AP file

In 2008, a jury convicted Simpson of armed robbery and other felonies after he led five men into a confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers in a cramped Las Vegas hotel room.

Imprisoned at age 61, he served nine years in a remote northern Nevada prison, including a stint as a gym janitor.

O.J. Simpson sits during a break on the second day of an evidentiary hearing in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas on May 14, 2013.
Simpson during a break in a hearing in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas on May 14, 2013.Ethan Miller / AP file