Allen G. Cowlings (born June 16, 1947 in San Francisco, California) first gained fame as an American football player, but is also known for his role in the saga of O.J. Simpson's murder trial. He played in the NFL between 1970 and 1979 for the Buffalo Bills, Houston Oilers, Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks, and San Francisco 49ers.
Cowlings and Simpson were teammates at Galileo High School, San Francisco City College, USC, the Buffalo Bills, and the San Francisco 49ers; they eventually became close friends and confidantes. Cowlings is most famous for his role in Simpson's capture on June 17, 1994, after a low-speed chase by police on Los Angeles freeways, several days after the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman several hours before. Cowlings claims that Simpson pointed a gun to Cowlings' head, forcing him to take part in Simpson's flight from the police. The chase was televised on live TV from helicopter cameras, and it is estimated it was viewed by approximately 90 million people in the U.S. alone. Cowlings was the driver, Simpson his passenger, in the now-infamous 1993 white Ford Bronco. The chase ended at Simpson's mansion in Brentwood, where he then surrendered to police.
References in the media
In the Family Guy episode "Untitled Griffin Family History", when Peter Griffin is telling the story of the Griffin family history, he describes a man known as Al Cowlings assisting the escape of the black Griffins on his white bronco horse, satirizing the infamous Simpson police chase.In "Good Will Hunting" (1997), Will's (Matt Damon) friends Chuckie (Ben Affleck), Morgan (Casey Affleck), & Bill (Cole Hauser) present Will with a car for his 21st birthday. Affleck says "I'm not going to Al Cowlings you around forever." Cowlings name was also used earlier in the movie.
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Last updated on Saturday July 05, 2008 at 08:24:33 PDT (GMT -0700)
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