The many ups, downs and controversies surrounding the life of former star football player OJ Simpson have led to a strangely divided collective memory of the man. The term collective memory refers to a set of shared information contained in the memories of a group from aggregated individual memories. OJ Simpson's life story is both sad and confusing after overcoming adversity to become one of the best football players of all time and a public figure beloved by many Simpson would put himself in a situation worse than ever. Orenthal James Simpson otherwise known as "OJ" Simpson or "The Juice" was born on July 9, 1947 in San Francisco, California. OJ Simpson had a difficult childhood. When OJ was two years old, he contracted rickets, a disorder that results from a lack of vitamin D, calcium or phosphate and leads to softening and weakening of bones. The disorder left Simpson pigeon-toed with legs that were both skinny and bowed. When he was a child, others called him “Pencil Pins.” Unable to afford surgery to repair his legs, OJ had to wear a pair of shoes connected to metal braces every day until the age of five to prevent deformities. In 1952, when OJ Simpson was five years old, his parents separated. OJ Simpson, his brother Melvin, and his two sisters Carmelita and Shirley were raised by their mother Eunice Simpson in the tough, largely black neighborhoods of San Francisco's Potrero Hill neighborhood. At the age of 13, OJ joined a gang known as the Persian Warriors and ended up in the San Francisco Youth Guidance Center at the age of fifteen for stealing from a liquor store. After the incident, OJ met one of his hero's baseball players, Willie Mays, after a new...... middle of paper ...... art of what could have been part of his downward spiral was sad and that maybe OJ didn't know how to deal with not having been in the spotlight. The collective memory of OJ Simpson is difficult to judge because many people today think he should have been convicted and others not. It is important to say that the OJ Simpson murder trial was one of the greatest media frenzies in history and it has been demonstrated throughout history that the media can have great power on our collective memory of events and people, as the American Revolution demonstrated. , Vietnam and various other events. The many ups, downs and controversies surrounding the life of former football star OJ Simpson have created a somewhat scattered collective memory of him. Whatever OJ's collective memory, his rise and fall is a story that will live on for the ages..