Al Cowlings played college football for the USC Trojans before being selected fifth overall in the first round by the Buffalo Bills in the 1970 NFL draft.
25 Facts About Al Cowlings
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Al Cowlings was a starter at various defensive positions for the Buffalo Bills, Houston Oilers, Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks, and the San Francisco 49ers, until retiring after the 1979 season.
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Al Cowlings was born on June 16,1947, in San Francisco, and raised in its Potrero Hill neighborhood.
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Al Cowlings attended Galileo High School, where he played football with O J Simpson.
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Al Cowlings was named an All-American defensive tackle after his senior year at the University of Southern California.
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Al Cowlings was drafted fifth in the first round of the 1970 NFL draft by the Buffalo Bills.
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Al Cowlings was a starter his first three years in Buffalo, but was traded to Houston Oilers after the 1972 season.
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Al Cowlings played all 14 games for the Oilers in both 1973 and 1974, but just five games in 1975 for the Rams.
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Al Cowlings played just one game, due to an injury he suffered while playing for the Rams in an exhibition game against the Seahawks.
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Al Cowlings returned to the Rams in 1977, played with CFL Montreal Alouettes in 1978, and finished his career in 1979 with the San Francisco 49ers.
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Al Cowlings served as a technical football advisor on the football scenes in the 1991 Tony Scott film The Last Boy Scout.
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Al Cowlings dated Simpson's first wife, Marguerite Whitley, while they were attending Galileo High School, and when they were having issues as a couple, Simpson stepped in as a mediator, but the discussion turned into a relationship and they married in 1967; Al Cowlings was reportedly angry at the time, but he and Simpson would eventually reconcile and resume their friendship.
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Al Cowlings was the ring bearer at mutual friends Robert and Kris Kardashian's wedding in 1978.
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Later that day, witnesses reported seeing Simpson riding in a white Ford Bronco, a vehicle owned and being driven by Al Cowlings, thus becoming the object of a low-speed chase by California Highway Patrol cruisers on the freeways.
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Al Cowlings was booked into the Los Angeles men's jail, from which he was later released on a $250,000 bond.
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District Attorney Gil Garcetti eventually determined that pending charges against Al Cowlings would be dropped due to a lack of sufficient evidence.
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Al Cowlings read a one-minute prepared statement announcing the 900 number, which was simultaneously unveiled visually in the room.
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Reports that Al Cowlings raised over $1 million from this $2-dollars-plus-a-minute 900 number were never verified.
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Former porn star and ex-girlfriend Jennifer Peace, who testified before a grand jury, claimed that Al Cowlings had confessed to her that a hysterical Simpson had called him on the night of the murders and that the murder weapon had been disposed of; Al Cowlings denied the allegations.
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Al Cowlings was subpoenaed and during both the deposition and trial took the Fifth Amendment when asked what he was doing between June 13,1994, when Simpson returned from Chicago, and the freeway chase on June 17,1994, as he could still be criminally charged for aiding and abetting.
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Al Cowlings notably broke down in tears after being shown photographs of Nicole's bruised face.
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Al Cowlings is a member of the 2009 USC Athletic Hall of Fame class along with Junior Seau, Rodney Peete, and John Robinson.
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In 2012, Fox News examined the lives of key individuals in the Simpson case and found that Al Cowlings was reportedly working as a handbag sales representative.
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In 2014, an ex-teammate told USA Today that Cowlings worked for B Wayne Hughes, founder of Public Storage.
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In 2016, Cowlings was played by Malcolm-Jamal Warner in the critically acclaimed series The People v O J Simpson: American Crime Story.