Al Cowlings

Allen Cedric "A.C." Cowlings (born June 16, 1947) is a former American football player and actor.

Cowlings was born on June 16, 1947, in San Francisco, and raised in its Potrero Hill neighborhood.

There he was a member of the Superiors social club, which met at the Booker T. Washington Community Center.

He attended Galileo High School, where he played football with O. J. Simpson.

He and Simpson became friends.

After high school, both attended City College of San Francisco, where they played on the football team.

Cowlings was named an All-American defensive tackle after his senior year at the University of Southern California (USC).

During his senior year, the Trojans went undefeated, and Cowlings led a powerful defensive line, nicknamed "The Wild Bunch" after the movie of the same name.

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; Cowlings was reportedly angry at the time, but he and Simpson would eventually reconcile and resume their friendship.

He began playing for the National Football League (NFL) in 1970, for the Buffalo Bills, Houston Oilers, Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks, and the San Francisco 49ers, until retiring after the 1979 season.

Cowlings was taken fifth overall in the first round by the Buffalo Bills in the 1970 NFL Draft.

Cowlings was drafted fifth in the first round of the 1970 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills.

He was a starter his first three years in Buffalo, but was traded to Houston Oilers after the 1972 season.

He played all 14 games for the Oilers in both 1973 and 1974, but just five games in 1975 for the Rams.

In 1976, he became a charter member of the Seattle Seahawks, after being signed off the waiver wire when the Rams released him at the end of the preseason.

He played just one game, due to an injury he suffered while playing for the Rams in an exhibition game against the Seahawks.

He returned to the Rams in 1977, played with CFL Montreal Alouettes in 1978, and finished his career in 1979 with the San Francisco 49ers.

Cowlings was also the ring bearer at mutual friends Robert and Kris Kardashian's wedding in 1978.

Cowlings's first film role was in the 1985 film Bubba Until It Hurts, starring Bubba Smith.

He had a recurring minor role as Coach Nabors in the HBO football sitcom 1st & Ten, which also starred Simpson.

They remained close friends and confidants through the years, with Cowlings being the godfather of Simpson's son Jason and a groomsman at Simpson's and Nicole Brown's wedding in 1985.

Cowlings also served as a technical football advisor on the football scenes in the 1991 Tony Scott film The Last Boy Scout.

Cowlings was a close friend of O. J. Simpson, whom he has known since childhood.

They were teammates at Galileo High School, San Francisco City College, USC, on the Buffalo Bills, and on the San Francisco 49ers.

Cowlings is most famous for his role in aiding his close friend O. J. Simpson in fleeing the police on June 17, 1994, after Simpson was accused of killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.

After leading police on a low-speed chase, Cowlings drove Simpson back to his home, where he was arrested.

Cowlings was also arrested for aiding Simpson, but charges were dropped for lack of evidence.

After the murders of Nicole Brown and her friend Ronald Goldman on June 12, 1994, in which Simpson was a "person of interest", Brown's funeral took place in the St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church in Brentwood on June 16, Cowlings's 47th birthday; Cowlings served as a gatekeeper and pallbearer at the funeral.

During the memorial service at David LeBon's house, Cowlings paid his respects to Brown while holding back tears.

The next day, despite agreeing to turn himself into the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), Simpson failed to surrender at the Parker Center station.

Later that day, witnesses reported seeing Simpson riding in a white Ford Bronco, a vehicle owned and being driven by Cowlings, thus becoming the object of a low-speed chase by California Highway Patrol cruisers on the freeways.

During the chase, Cowlings made a 911 call from a cell phone and claimed that Simpson was armed with a gun pointed to his own head, demanding that Cowlings drive him to Simpson's estate in Brentwood, or Simpson would kill himself.

The pursuit was televised on live TV via helicopter.

It interrupted coverage of the 1994 NBA Finals, and was viewed by approximately 95 million people in the United States alone.

During the chase, an agitated Cowlings famously told 911 dispatchers: "My name is A.C.! You know who I am, goddamn it!"

The chase ended at Simpson's Brentwood home, where Simpson surrendered to police after a nearly hourlong wait.

When the chase concluded and Cowlings and Simpson surrendered, Cowlings was arrested and charged with a felony for aiding a fugitive.

He was booked into the Los Angeles men's jail, from which he was later released on $250,000 bond.

District Attorney Gil Garcetti eventually determined, however, that pending charges against Cowlings would be dropped due to lack of sufficient evidence.

In Outrage: The Five Reasons Why O. J. Simpson Got Away with Murder, Vincent Bugliosi wrote that Detective Philip Vannatter had asked Cowlings if he believed Simpson had committed the murders; Cowlings conceded that the police had a lot of physical evidence and that it would speak for itself.