American football legend OJ Simpson died at the age of 76, his family announced, reported BNT.
The cause of the former running back's death was cancer, with which he had been fighting for a long time.
"On April 10, our father Orenthal James Simpson lost his battle with cancer. He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren. "His family is asking for privacy and peace," the Simpsons wrote on social media.
As a football player, OJ Simpson is one of the biggest stars in the National Football League. He played for the Buffalo Bills between 1969 and 1976. He then played two seasons for the San Francisco 49ers.
As a Buffalo player, Simpson won the "Most Valuable Player" in 1973. He was selected to participate in the Pro Bowl five times (the "All-Star Game"), he was the leader in rushing yards four times and in touchdowns scored twice. However, he never became a champion in the NFL, but he has a title from the College Championship, and in 1968 he also took the most prestigious award in American sports for university athletes - the "Heisman" trophy.
After the end of his career as a football player, OJ Simpson participated in a number of television productions.
In the mid-1990s, OJ Simpson became one of the most popular Americans after being accused of murdering his second wife, Nicole Brown, and her new boyfriend, Ron Goldman. In 1994, he was apprehended in a police chase broadcast live on television that has remained legendary in American television history.
Despite all the evidence pointing to Simpson committing the brutal double murder, Simpson's legal team, led by Robert Kardashian, managed to obtain an acquittal due to damage to the evidence collected by the prosecution.
In 2007, Simpson robbed a casino, for which in 2008 he was sentenced to 33 years in prison by a court in the state of Nevada. He left prison in 2017 for good behavior, and in 2021 all charges against him were completely dropped.
OJ Simpson was inducted into the "College Hall of Fame" in 1983 and in the "NFL Hall of Fame" in 1985.