O.J. Simpson’s Death Draws Reactions, Memories From Around the Sports World

O.J. Simpson was trying to call Bob Costas.

It was June 17, 1994, and Simpson was the most famous passenger in a white Ford Bronco leading a police and helicopter chase around the Los Angeles freeways. Simpson had a phone in his car, and he needed a favor from Costas.

Getting through was a challenge in the pre-cell phone world, as Costas explained in an interview with CNN on Thursday when Simpson died of cancer.

“Eventually he called the studio where we did the NFL show from, which was also where we did the NBA show from, but on this occasion since it was the Finals, we were at Madison Square Garden,” Costas told CNN’s Boris Sanchez. “The phone rang and rang. Apparently, he tried it a few times. And an engineer eventually answered the phone. He said, ‘I need to speak to Bob Costas.’

“Who’s calling? ‘O.J. Simpson.’ – yeah right, click, he hung up.”

Days later, Costas said, he was able to speak to Simpson, former Buffalo Bills teammate Al Cowlings, and attorney Robert Kardashian in a Los Angeles County jail. The Bronco’s driver, Cowlings, told Costas they had called during the fateful freeway chase.

“I was being defamed – not so much about the alleged murders, but my whole life was being defamed – and I thought you could give a different viewpoint as my friend,” Costas recalled Simpson saying. “I didn’t bother to explain to him what the journalistic imperatives would’ve been at that time.”

Asked what he would have asked Simpson at the moment, Costas said, “The first thing you’d have to ask, Boris, as delicately but still directly as possible, is ‘O.J. did you do it?'”

That simple question — whether or not Simpson was responsible for murdering Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman on June 12, 1994 — dominated the legacy of the former football star until the end of his life.

Even those in the sports world who were alive during Simpson’s heyday with the Buffalo Bills were clearly troubled by the question Thursday. Former Los Angeles Lakers star Magic Johnson, retired Major League Baseball slugger Jose Canseco, and former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III were among those who commented on Simpson’s death Thursday.

“NFL Hall of Fame Running Back O.J. Simpson has died at the age of 76 after a battle with Cancer,” was the entirety of Griffin’s post on Threads.

Canseco wrote on his Twitter/X account: “OJ Simpson was a murderer / His death should not be glorified.”

Johnson also took to Twitter/X to write: “Cookie and I are praying for O.J. Simpson’s children Arnelle, Aaren, Justin, Jason, and Sydney and his grandchildren following his passing. I know this is a difficult time🙏🏾”

Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Darius Slay wrote a more conventional tribute to Simpson on Thursday: