FACTBOX: O.J. Simpson, convicted in Las Vegas

(Reuters) - O.J. Simpson, found guilty on all 12 charges in a Las Vegas kidnap and robbery case on Friday, is a former football star who was famously acquitted of murder in the so-called "Trial of the Century" in the 1990s.

Simpson, 61, and co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart, 54, were convicted in what prosecutors said was the armed robbery of his own memorabilia from two collectors at a Las Vegas hotel and casino in September of 2007.

Here are a few facts about Simpson, who faces life in prison:

EARLY LIFE

-- Orenthal James Simpson was born in one of San Francisco's roughest neighborhoods, the Potrero Hill housing projects, on July 9, 1947. As a youngster, Simpson suffered from rickets and had to wear leg braces. He recovered from the disease but it left him bowlegged.

-- He developed into a star football player at Galileo High School. At the University of Southern California, he led his team to a national championship and won the coveted Heisman Trophy. In 1973, with the Buffalo Bills, he became the first pro running back to record 2,000 rushing yards in a season.

-- After his football career, Simpson appeared in movies, including some of the "Naked Gun" series, and commercials.

BATTERED IMAGE

-- Simpson saw his carefully honed image battered beyond recognition after his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman, a waiter at the restaurant where she had just dined, were found stabbed and slashed to death in front of her Los Angeles home on June 12, 1994.

-- Suspicion quickly fell on Simpson and he was arrested after leading police on a freeway pursuit broadcast live on U.S. national television. He was acquitted of murder charges on October 3, 1995, after a televised trial.

-- The victims' families brought a wrongful death suit against Simpson, and in 1997 a civil court jury found him liable for the deaths. Simpson was ordered to pay the families $33.5 million in damages.

-- Simpson, who moved to Florida with his two younger children, has done little to satisfy the judgment despite years of collection efforts by the victims' families.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; editing by Mohammad Zargham)