Jun 26, 2008 10:37 am US/Central
O.J. Simpson Vacationing In Minn.
FERGUS FALLS, Minn. (AP) ―
Former football star O.J. Simpson is spending the week vacationing in Minnesota, getting in some golf and taking a break from the Florida heat ahead of his trial set for September in Las Vegas.
Simpson is spending the week on Otter Tail Lake in western Minnesota, visiting friends and family of his girlfriend Christine Prody, who's a former Fergus Falls resident, The Daily Journal reported Thursday.
Simpson is friends with her brother, Barrett Prody, who has a home in Fergus Falls, a cabin on nearby Otter Tail Lake and owns a Fargo, N.D.-based consulting business for the automotive industry.
"He's been telling me for some time that I need to come up to his area because I'd be pleasantly surprised," Simpson told the newspaper.
As Simpson prepared for a 1:10 p.m. tee time at Thumper Pond Golf Course in nearby Ottertail on Wednesday the temperature was a pleasant 77 degrees.
"Barrett was right, I'm pleasantly surprised," Simpson said.
He took his first drive with his new club -- a 25-degree Bobby Jones hybrid -- and watched the ball sail to the left and off the faraway into a heavily treed area.
"Is this a par 5?" Simpson asked members of his golf party. When somebody said yes he appeared relieved. "My first hit I had no muscle, no muscle, but I'll hit par!" he said.
Simpson and other associates are due to go on trial in September on kidnapping and other charges in the alleged robbing of sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel room in September. He has pleaded not guilty.
The NFL Hall of Famer was acquitted in the 1994 Los Angeles slaying of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, but a civil jury found Simpson liable for the deaths 1997.
He told The Daily Journal he's out the door at home in Miami each day by 6:10 a.m. to play a round of golf. He said he sent his now college-age children off to summer school last week at Boston College and the University of Florida, giving him some free time to visit Minnesota.
"I came up for a few days to do some fishing and some golfing. I hope to get some Minnesota walleye," he said. "I wanted to take a few days away from that hot, hot, hot Miami."
Simpson also had another thing to accomplish on this trip. The Prodys' father, Clair Prody, lives in Fergus Falls, where he's executive director of Lakeland Mental Health.
"I've been dating Christine for about 12 years now and have never met her father. After 12 years I thought it was about time I meet the parents," Simpson said.
Prody said he purposely had Simpson fly into Fargo, N.D., Tuesday night as opposed to Minneapolis because Simpson has always kidded him about living near the North Dakota city.
"He kids me all the time and has a hard time thinking I live near Fargo because he has the movie on his mind," Prody said.
Simpson said he quickly got a new image of Fargo after going straight from the airport to the JT Cigarro Shop for a night of socializing.
"I had one of the best cigars I've ever had in my life, and that says a lot, because when you live in Miami, you're forced into being a cigar smoker," Simpson said.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
