Still Going Strong : Twenty-Five Years Ago, O.J. Simpson Was a Big Favorite in the Heisman Trophy Race, as Is Charlie Ward Today

As the Biltmore hotel conference room began to fill, one question slowly spread among the banquet crowd honoring USC’s 1968 football team last September: Will O.J. Simpson show?

With each passing minute, the odds on his appearing grew larger. Even his former teammates had doubts as they gathered outside the banquet room and started making excuses for him.

“O.J. is a people person,” said Terrel Ray, a wide receiver on the 1968 team. “But he’s so busy. It’s very difficult for him to fly in and then fly back out.”

Then, as the banquet began, a wave of excitement swept through the crowd. Orenthal James Simpson had arrived.

Within seconds, Simpson went from missing media star to one of the guys as he hugged, smiled and joked with his former teammates.

Twenty-five years ago, Simpson led the Trojans to their third consecutive Rose Bowl game and won the Heisman Trophy as the nation’s best college football player in the most lopsided vote ever. That record might be challenged today, when Florida State quarterback Charlie Ward is expected to win by an overwhelming margin.

Ward’s dominance of college football this season brings back memories of the days when Simpson blew past opposing defenses with ease.

At 46, Simpson is enjoying life. He weighs the same as he did when he played his last NFL game, and his former teammates say that he looks as if he could still run Student Body Right.

“O.J. is just one of those guys who makes everyone feel comfortable around him,” said Bob Chandler, who played with Simpson at USC and in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills. “He’s become such a household name that, even if people don’t know him, they think that they do, so they expect him to be around.”

In only two seasons as a Trojan after transferring in 1967 from San Francisco City College, Simpson equaled or bettered 19 NCAA, Pacific 8 and USC records.

“I knew that he was different than any other back I had ever seen during my first practice with him,” said Sam Dickerson, a wide receiver at USC. “He came through a hole and gave a head fake one way and then took off the other way, all before you could blink an eye.”

After finishing a close second in the Heisman Trophy voting as a junior behind UCLA’s Gary Beban, Simpson was a runaway winner in 1968, when he set an NCAA record for most yards gained in a season.

After being drafted in the first round by Buffalo in 1969, Simpson went on to establish an NFL single season rushing record of 2,003 yards in 1973.

He finished his 11-year pro career with the San Francisco 49ers as the second leading rusher in NFL history, and, in 1985, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

After playing his last game for USC in the 1969 Rose Bowl, Simpson quickly cashed in on his fame when he signed endorsement contracts with Chevrolet and RC Cola. Before he played his first NFL game, he was committed to appear in three major movie pictures.

“I’ve always been involved in more things than football,” said Simpson, who majored in sociology at USC but never graduated. “I like to consider myself as a businessman.

“I’m a very alive person. I don’t like to ever refer to myself as an ex- anything. I try not to look back. I have always taken pride that the main source of my income has come off the field.”

Trying to figure out Simpson’s main job today is difficult. He recently finished filming a third Naked Gun movie, while continuing with his job as an NBC sports announcer.

“In a lot of ways, I think O.J. has made more money because of his personality than those skinny little legs of his,” Chandler said. “People always want to be around him and use him corporate wise.”

Simpson has had a long relationship with Hertz Rent A Car. Simpson, who owns a Hertz franchise, is entering his 19th year working for a company he helped make famous by running through an airport.

Another example of Simpson’s lasting celebrity is a new telephone commercial starring his mother, who is shown running through her house to answer a collect phone call from him.

“I haven’t played a game in 14 years, and people can still relate to my mother,” Simpson said.

“I don’t feel that old. The only thing different is that I’m a little stiffer in the morning. I feel like the same guy who was out there then.”