Longtime friend Mercury Morris has fond memories and made no judgment of OJ Simpson

Civil rights attorney and Fox News contributor Leo Terrell joins ‘The Story’ to discuss the public’s perception and reaction to the O.J. Simpson cases.

Mercury Morris is on the phone, at once watching the coverage of O.J. Simpson's death following a bout with cancer, and recounting tales about his friend and rival's life and times.

That's when the slow speed Bronco chase comes up as a topic.

O.J. Simpson breaks away from Steeler tacklers Jack Russell (59) and Andy Russell (34) to run 87 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter of the game on September 28, 1975. (Bettmann Archive via Getty Images)

There was that evening in South Florida, a few years ago, when the two former NFL running backs were on their way to a mutual friend's house for a party, and Morris got lost.

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"I made the wrong turn," Morris recalls. "And he comes up in a Bronco or one of his trucks and puts down the window and goes, "Hey, you're at the wrong house. Follow me, man, like you've been doing all your life.

"So, I followed him. I was following O.J. in the Bronco."

Morris pauses, recognizing the irony of his statement.

Morris, 77, was a Simpson contemporary. Both played college football at the same time in the 1960s. Both chased the same rushing records. Both were drafted in 1969. And both competed against one another during the season but were friendly in the offseason.

That's how Morris chooses to recall Simpson. And that puts the former Miami Dolphins running back in what is probably a shrinking group of people who choose to think of Simpson mostly in football terms.

Mercury Morris, running back for the Miami Dolphins, during an NFL football game against the Baltimore Colts in the Orange Bowl,