BUFFALO, N.Y. — If you ask Booker Edgerson about his days playing with O.J. Simpson, he remembers the time on the field.
“People say, ‘Did you play with O.J.?’ I told them, ‘No. He played with me because I was here first,’ ” Edgerson said.
But if you ask him about today’s news, some other memories come back.
“Well, it was tough,” he said. “He was like a little brother in a way.”
Edgerson and Simpson played together in the 1969 NFL season in Buffalo — Simpson’s rookie year. Late in the season, the two became roommates after butting heads early on. Edgerson said Simpson was a prima donna, and he was more old school, so they clashed.
But after rooming together, the two learned they had a lot in common. Their birthdays were just four days apart, so they used to celebrate together. It sparked a friendship that lasted 50 years.
Edgerson was planning to see Simpson in Las Vegas in three weeks when he learned the news Thursday that the legendary Buffalo Bills running back had died at the age of 76 of prostate cancer.
“I called him last week and then got no call back,” Edgerson said. “And then boom, get the news this morning about this whole situation.”
Simpson played nine of his 11 NFL seasons with the Bills after being drafted first overall in 1969. He rushed for 11,236 career yards, 76 touchdowns and became the first NFL running back to surpass 2,000 yards in a season in 1973. He was a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 1985.
But while Booker remembers Simpson as a legendary player and a brother, others remember him in a very different light from when he was accused of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman outside her home in Brentwood, California in July 1994.
He was ultimately acquitted of the murder charges but found liable for the death in a separate civil case in 1997.
“Did he do it? I don't know. It's something I never brought up to him,” Edgerson said. “I didn't think that in our friendship that I needed to bring it up.”
But regardless of what others remember Simpson for, if you ask Edgerson about him, he’ll tell you he’ll always remember him as a friend.
“We had good times together, and we understood each other,” he said. “We did a lot of things together. That's my memories.”
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