THE SIMPSON MURDER CASE : USC, Ex-Teammates Reel From Shock, Disbelief

O.J. Simpson’s jersey, No. 32, the one he wore in his Heisman Trophy-winning 1968 season, rests in a plexiglass case in the north corner of USC’s Heritage Hall lobby.

USC students, faculty members and visitors lingered by the display this week. Many were unable to grasp the week’s news, first that he had been implicated in, then, on Friday, accused of the murder of his former wife and a male friend.

Not this crime, surely. And not this man.

How was it possible?

Some watched a video machine in another corner of Heritage Hall only a few feet from his Heisman award. They punched up the dramatic, 64-yard run that beat UCLA in 1967, 21-20.

But this week, all those great runs suddenly seemed very long ago.

USC people had difficulty blending the athlete they remembered--the grinning, charismatic kid from San Francisco’s Potrero Hill district--with the 46-year-old O.J. Simpson who was charged Friday on two murder counts.

Simpson failed to show up for his arraignment and was being sought by authorities. Most of those interviewed spoke before Simpson had been declared a fugitive.

“It’s devastating, it’s overwhelming,” said Pete Shugarman, a 28-year USC biology professor.

“Everyone’s talking about it and no one wants to believe it, especially if you knew him. It’s so unlike the person we’ve known.”

Steve Grady, a former USC teammate, said: “It’s unbelievable, so shocking. . . . I roomed with him sometimes at USC. He never showed a tendency toward what’s described. He didn’t even have a temper.”

Two of USC’s three other Heisman Trophy winners, Mike Garrett and Marcus Allen, did not return calls. Charles White, the third, would not comment. Nor would Simpson’s former USC coach, John McKay.

John Robinson, USC’s current coach, would not comment on Simpson’s situation but said: “He’s part of our family, a much-loved guy.”

Bob Seagren, a world-class pole vaulter at USC, was on the 1967 track team with Simpson.

“I hope he’s innocent, that it’s more of a media frenzy than anything else,” he said. “I’m hoping and praying for the best for him. And I’m praying for his kids, thinking of the pain they must be going through.”

Another former teammate, both in football and track, Earl McCullouch, expressed shock.

“It was unbelievable when I heard it and it’s still unbelievable to me,” he said.

“This was my roommate. I know this guy. For him to get in that kind of a rage and do this to someone--they’ll have to prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt to me.”

Earlier this week, Ron Yary, who won the Outland Trophy as college football’s outstanding lineman the year before Simpson won the Heisman, offered a familiar refrain.

“He’s as nice a person as I’ve ever met, even-tempered, cordial, polite, honest, lighthearted,” Yary told the Associated Press.

“I can’t get this off my mind. To me, this is the equivalent of the Pope showing an act of violence.”

Bob Chandler, Simpson’s longtime friend and former teammate at USC and with the Buffalo Bills, visited Simpson on Tuesday. He told the Associated Press: “I’ve never seen him lower. He’s very, very distraught. He’s grieving the loss of the mother of his two kids.

“I have no reason to suspect O.J. is involved in any way.”

Lennox Miller, a Pasadena dentist and a former track teammate of Simpson, called the police portrait of Simpson drawn this week by the unfolding story “completely contrary to the person I’ve loved all these years.”

“The things I’m hearing--it just doesn’t sound like him,” he said. “O.J. has always been a charismatic guy, fun to be around, always in good spirits. This is a side I was never aware of. I’m completely shocked.”