Scott D. Pierce: ESPN’s O.J. Simpson documentary is a stunning sports story

There are millions of Americans who know who O.J. Simpson is because of what he was accused of doing — but have no idea who he was before he went on trial for the brutal murders of two people.

"Now, if you ask somebody, 'Who's O.J.?' they'll say, 'Isn't he that football player who killed his wife?' " said Emmy and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Ezra Edelman, the man behind ESPN's five-part, 10-hour documentary "O.J.: Made In America."

It's about the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. It's about the trials — the criminal trial, in which O.J. was acquitted; and the civil trial, in which he was found liable for their deaths.

But it's not just about that. This is the story of a sports hero of incredible magnitude whose popularity remained enormous a decade and a half after he retired from the NFL.

"There is an entire population under the age of 30 to 35 who … don't know of O.J. Simpson the celebrity," said Connor Schell, executive producer of ESPN's "30 for 30" series, "and the place that he held in our culture."

Simpson won the 1968 Heisman Trophy while at USC. He was a five-time All-Pro with the Bills, the 1973 MVP, and he became the first player to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season (and the season was only 14 games long).

But that doesn't tell the story. A generation of American boys grew up envisioning themselves running through airports, dodging people and obstacles the way Simpson did in rental-car TV commercials.

"My brother has a photo of us as kids and he's wearing an O.J. jersey," Edelman said. "He's part of my consciousness from the time I was a child."

In the years between the end of his football career and the murders, Simpson remained a larger-than-life figure as a pitchman, a sportscaster ("Monday Night Football"), and an actor (the "Naked Gun" movies).

O.J. had filmed the pilot for a TV series that NBC was considering when his arrest scuttled the project.

Edelman was in college when the murders occurred and was visiting his parents when the infamous slow-speed chase in the white Bronco played out on national television.

"I'm a big sports fan," he said. "My friends were over to watch the Knicks game — and this happens."

And, like most of America, Edelman had a hard time believing that Simpson could possibly have been a cold-blooded, brutal killer.

"With all the things we know about athletes today, it's less shocking. But you go back to that moment, and O.J. was a part of all of us in these different ways. If you were a sports fan, he brought so much joy as an athlete. He made you feel good.

"So how is a guy we are emotionally connected to capable of that? That is part of this narrative. It's not just the people around him who weren't aware that he had that capability or had any sort of history of violence with Nicole or anybody else. Collectively, culturally it's, 'Wait … is this possible? That this person who didn't just score touchdowns, but did it in the most aesthetically pleasing way — that guy couldn't have done that.' "

"O.J.: Made In America" puts Simpson in perspective. Puts the murders in perspective as they pertained to race relations in Los Angeles. The 10 hours are gripping. There's no effort to downplay the murders, but it's about so much more than that.

"The story is really O.J. and us," Edelman said. "We are all engaged in this story in a very visceral way."

Scott D. Pierce covers TV for The Salt Lake Tribune. Email him at spierce@sltrib.com; follow him on Twitter @ScottDPierce.