Sports Broadcaster Bob Costas Reflects on Late O.J. Simpson’s ‘Complicated Legacy’

Sports broadcaster Bob Costas is looking back on his personal history with the late O.J. Simpson.

“It’s a complicated legacy, to put it mildly,” Costas, 72, said during the Friday, April 12, episode of the Today show. “I can’t think of anyone historical or someone [who] may have known where the first chapter and the second chapter of their lives are such a stark contrast.”

Simpson initially rose to fame as an all-star football player, earning the nickname “The Juice.” He played in 11 NFL seasons and five Pro Bowls before ultimately retiring in 1979 and becoming a sportscaster. Fifteen years later, his legacy changed course when he was accused of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.

“[He] was revered and then reviled,” Costas recalled on Friday. “Yes, I knew him well. All of us at NBC Sports and throughout NBC who interacted with him liked him very much. What I’m about to say doesn’t mitigate the crime that he quite obviously committed, but at the time, he was the sort of guy who’d remember the name of the kid who brought you the newspaper and coffee when you first got to the set to cover football on Sunday.”

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He continued, “He was accommodating to every fan who came up to him. He enjoyed his celebrity. He was very good company … and then all of that, in our perception and public perception, changed one night in June of 1994.”

Brown Simpson, who divorced the former NFL star in 1992, and Goldman were stabbed to death outside of her home in Los Angeles in June 1994. Simpson was arrested days later after evidence, including a glove found at the scene which allegedly had his DNA on it, seemingly connected him to the crime. Simpson pleaded not guilty to the charges and was ultimately acquitted during a criminal trial.

Brown Simpson and Goldman’s families later filed a civil lawsuit against Simpson in 1996, for which he was found liable. Simpson was ordered to pay the victims’ families $33 million in damages.

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Simpson died 28 years later, with his family — including five children and multiple grandchildren — confirming his passing on Thursday, April 11. Simpson was 76 and had battled cancer.

“The only thing I have to say is that today is a further reminder of how long Ron has been gone and how long we have missed him,” Ron’s father, Fred Goldman, later told Us Weekly in a statement. “The only thing that is truly important today are the victims.”