Evicting OJ From the House (Franchise) He Helped Build
by Betty Jean Grant
Betty Jean Grant
This writer and sometimes sports fans, doesn’t know much about football and I only watched the Bills when OJ Simpson played at The Old Rock Pile, the then newly constructed, and the manly named football stadium out there in Orchard Park. I had major concerns that the stadium should have replaced the War Memorial Stadium on Jefferson Ave or that it could be constructed somewhere in Buffalo, to continue to boost our stagnant economic base.
Buffalo was losing many name brand stores like Sears, Twin Fair, IDS and National Fuel Gas and other manufacturing factories long before 1984, when Republic Steel Plant and Bethlehem Steel closed their doors for good.
It made perfect sense for the Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson, the County Executive and the Erie County Legislature to build the stadium in Buffalo or even in Lancaster, where many of Buffalo’s young, professional, black workers were buying homes and raising their families. But it has been speculated that someone who was on the inside decision making had a friend in Orchard Park who had a lot of land to sell.
The Erie County Stadium in Orchard Park was built, I think, several years after a young, gifted Heisman Trophy winner from the University of Southern California named Orenthal James (OJ for short) Simpson was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in 1968. This talented Running Back was so good at what he did and was so charismatic in doing it, OJ quickly became the most popular player in the whole NFL.
And, so now, here we are. The Buffalo Bills player who introduced the world to chicken wings and Mulligan’s, who partied hard but played football harder and put the Buffalo Bills into a tier of community and national admiration and respect, is no longer worthy or to use their words: “Is Not Fit Enough for Their Standard!”
Talk about being ungrateful and using elements of future deeds to justify what happened in a future episode of a person’s life to discredit a person’s past achievements and record. OJ Simpson’s record of what he accomplished as a Buffalo Bills Running Back can neither be erased nor rewritten.
The new stadium should continue the tradition of recognizing, showcasing and displaying the pictures, names and achievements of those were or are still wearing the uniform of our much-beloved Buffalo Bills. Let’s honor all those who have earned their places, whether it was their old Rock Pile ‘home’, Ralph Wilson Stadium or their recently built the 2-billion dollar edifice down the road from the 2nd stadium.
The greatest Buffalo Bills player to ever wear a Bills uniform is on that Buffalo Bills Wall of Fame. Let’s keep him there where he so rightfully belongs.