At the age of 76, O.J. Simpson, accused murderer and convicted robber, has died. In as opposite a manner as his ex-wife Nicole — who was found nearly decapitated in a pool of her own blood, curled into a fetal position after being stabbed to death — the infamous felon and one-time football star passed away surrounded by friends and family. Prostate cancer, Simpson’s loved ones said, was the real killer here.

Simpson’s controversial murder acquittal in the face of stunning and inculpatory forensic evidence rendered him a pariah in almost all polite society, with one particularly egregious exception: his and my shared alma mater, the University of Southern California.