Former NFL running back and convicted felon OJ Simpson has passed away at the age of 76. He had been in poor health for a while, but the cause of death has been revealed by his family.
Taking to Simpson’s account on X, his family revealed that he had succumbed to a battle with cancer. According to TMZ, the player once nicknamed “Juice” had been battling prostate cancer and recently entered hospice care.
Simpson’s cancer diagnosis was first revealed in February when word that he had entered hospice care first became a widely-circulated report. At the time, Simpson denied that he was in hospice but would neither confirm nor deny the reports that he was battling cancer.
OJ Simpson played in the NFL from 1969 to 1979, leading the league in rushing four times and becoming the first player in history to rush for 2,000 yards in a season. His 143.1 yards per game in the 1973 season remain an NFL record.
Simpson would be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985. However, his life’s story would take a dark turn a few years later.
In 1994, Simpson was arrested and charged with the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman. The ensuing trial was one of the most publicized events in American history and culminated in an acquittal due to jury nullification.
Though he was found not guilty at the criminal level, Simpson was later found guilty in a civil case and ordered to pay millions in damages to Goldman’s family.
Simpson would be convicted of armed robbery and kidnapping in 2008 and granted parole in 2017.