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By Matthew Davis
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The Buffalo Bills have many greats to recognize in the team’s Wall of Fame at the team’s new Highmark Stadium.
Former running back O.J. Simpson will not be one of them, the Bills announced on Saturday. Simpson had a stellar on-field career with the Bills between 1969 and 1977, but the late star’s highly publicized legal issues in the 1990s and beyond led to the Bills’ decision on the Wall of Fame.
“We have made an organizational decision that he is not a fit to display inside our new stadium and Family Circle.” Bills COO Pete Guelli said in a statement via ESPN's Adam Schefter.
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Simpson was inducted into the original Wall of Fame at the old Ralph Wilson Stadium in 1980, the first Bills player to receive that honor since the team's first season in 1960. He produced the first 2,000-yard rushing season in league history and won an MVP in addition to five Pro Bowl appearances. Shortly after his NFL career ended, he became a popular sideline reporter for NBC and pursued an acting career.
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Ultimately, Simpson’s life and decisions after football have dwarfed his on-field accomplishments in the Bills’ minds. Simpson died in 2024, three decades after being acquitted of double murder in 1995. His legal troubles continued after that.
That’s not the first time the Bills have disassociated from Simpson. The Bills and his alma mater, USC, didn’t publish tributes after his passing. Simpson’s career at USC was historic, too, as a Heisman Trophy winner.
His death elicited mixed responses from sports figures in 2024, and the sentiment hasn’t gone away in the years passing since his death. That said, the Bills doubled down on their stance on Saturday as the historic opening for the team’s new 60,000-seat stadium awaits.
Simpson won’t be among the 30 former Bills greats featured in the new stadium, as the team enters a new era.
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