Thirty-two years after the murder that captivated the nation and two years after O.J. Simpson’s death, a familiar debate is resurfacing: Can one of football’s most iconic numbers be separated from the man who wore it?
The question gained renewed attention after Tanya Brown, sister of Nicole Brown Simpson, recently called on the NFL to retire No. 32– the jersey Simpson wore during his Hall of Fame career with the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers. Brown said seeing the number on football fields remains a painful reminder of the 1994 killings of her sister and Ron Goldman.
“It’s also the 32nd year of Nicole and Ron’s murders,” Brown told TMZ. “Every time I see someone on the field with that number, it brings me back and I have trauma.” She suggested the NFL either remove the number from circulation or dedicate it to the memories of Nicole Brown Simpson and Goldman.
Simpson spent decades before 1994 as one of the most marketable NFL stars and loving family man. That public image collapsed on June 12, 1994, however, after Nicole and Goldman were found stabbed to death outside Brown Simpson’s Los Angeles condominium. Days later, millions of Americans watched live television coverage of Simpson’s slow-speed chase through Southern California in a white Ford Bronco, an event that became one of the most-watched news broadcasts in U.S. history.
Now, Simpson’s name is synonymous with the killings and the corresponding high-speed chase, which continues to haunt Brown 32 years later.
For supporters of Brown’s proposal, the argument is less about football history than about legacy. They note that Simpson’s accomplishments on the field cannot be separated from the notoriety that followed. Although Simpson was acquitted of murder in the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Goldman in 1995, a civil jury later found him liable for their wrongful deaths. For many victims’ advocates, continuing to celebrate No. 32 ignores the pain still felt by the families involved.
But opponents argue that retiring a number league-wide would create a difficult precedent.
Unlike Major League Baseball’s retirement of Jackie Robinson’s No. 42, the NFL rarely removes numbers from circulation… especially not across all teams. Critics of Brown’s proposal also point out that No. 32 belongs to football history far beyond Simpson. Hall of Famers, including Jim Brown, Marcus Allen and Franco Harris, also wore the number, making it a symbol associated with multiple generations of players.
As Simpson’s former lawyer recently told TMZ, “you can’t pretend all of his achievements never existed.” Still, that doesn’t mean the pain caused by Simpson’s many legal woes doesn’t exist either.
Others contend that Simpson’s football achievements remain historically significant regardless of his later legal troubles. Simpson won the 1968 Heisman Trophy, rushed for more than 11,000 yards in the NFL and became the first player to rush for 2,000 yards in a 14-game season. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985.
Yet Brown’s comments highlight a broader cultural question that has confronted sports leagues for years: How should institutions honor athletes whose accomplishments are overshadowed by allegations, criminal conduct or actions that permanently alter their public image?
The NFL has not indicated any plans to retire No. 32 and Brown hasn’t launched an official campaign to retire the number. Still, she said she hopes fans think less about a football legend and more about the victims whose deaths continue to reverberate decades later.
