O.J. Simpson dead at 76

O.J. Simpson had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and received chemotherapy treatment before he died, Pro Football Hall of Fame President Jim Porter said in a statement Thursday, after the former running back's family confirmed his death.

CNN has recently reported on a stark racial disparity in prostate cancer diagnoses, which has spurred health advocates to urge Black men to consider getting prostate cancer screenings.

One in six Black men will develop prostate cancer in their lifetime, according to the advocacy organization ZERO Prostate Cancer. Research from the American Cancer Society shows Black men are more than twice as likely to die from the disease than their White counterparts.

CNN's Nicquel Terry Ellis contributed reporting to this post.

Veteran sportscaster Bob Costas, who became friends with O.J. Simpson after they worked together broadcasting on NBC, said Simpson was not only a Hall of Fame-quality player, but embodied "a quality that's difficult to define; statistics alone don't capture it."

Although he was known as an accomplished athlete and "one of the handful of greatest running backs in the history of college football and then the NFL," Simpson also became a household name for his appearance in movies and a variety of commercials, including a famous 1978 Hertz car rental commercial showing Simpson running through an airport.

"Everything about him, people feel it, more or less," Costas said.

Sports analyst Christine Brennan called Simpson an "American icon" who transcended sports.

“What we see now with athletes today, be it Caitlin Clark recently, of course Tom Brady, Serena Williams, LeBron (James), I could go on and on, the first-name basis that we’re on with these athletes, the fact that we absolutely expect to see them on commercials,” Brennan told CNN. “This, to me, really started with O.J. and the Hertz commercials."

Even people who didn't watch sports or knew him as an athlete recognized who Simpson was, she added.

“And then the trial, and the civil trial, the civil case he lost, and the fall from grace that was extraordinary and well-deserved, absolutely self-induced, and a man that would never be seen the same again," she added.

Former football player O.J. Simpson's athletic contributions will be preserved in the Pro Football Hall of Fame's archives in Canton, Ohio, following his death Thursday, according to its president, Jim Porter.

Simpson was the first professional football player to rush for more than 2,000 yards during an NFL season, according to Porter. It was a rushing mark "many thought could not be attained in a 14-game season," Porter said.

"He broke Jim Brown’s single-season rushing record (1,863 yards) that had stood for a decade, and his 143.1 rushing yards per game that season remains the highest mark in league history," according to Porter's statement.

Simpson scored 76 total touchdowns during his professional football career and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985, Porter said.

In 1995, O.J. Simpson was acquitted in the brutal killings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.

Here's what happened during the trial:

Simpson pleaded “100% not guilty” and assembled a “dream team” of famous local and national lawyers, including civil rights attorney Johnnie Cochran, star defense attorneys F. Lee Bailey and Alan Dershowitz, and DNA expert Barry Scheck. Also on the team was Simpson’s friend Robert Kardashian, father of the Kardashian sisters.

Lead prosecutors Marcia Clark and Chris Darden focused on the timeline, domestic abuse and the DNA evidence found on the bloody glove discovered at the crime scene and another one at O.J. Simpson’s property.

But the “dream team” raised doubts about the police handling of the evidence and accused one of the lead detectives, Mark Fuhrman, of racial bias. Although Simpson never testified, among the most riveting moments was when prosecutor Darden asked Simpson to put on the infamous gloves – one of which police said was found at the murder scene, the other at Simpson’s property.

The case became a cable news sensation and a nationwide obsession, as tens of millions of viewers tuned in at home and at work.

The trial lasted just over eight months, from opening statements to the verdict.

On October 3, 1995, as the “not guilty to all counts” verdict was read, Cochran turned and yelled, “Yes!”

Kardashian looked stunned. Simpson finally broke into a smile, sighed deeply and mouthed “thank you, thank you” to the jury.

O.J. Simpson, the former NFL star and broadcaster whose athletic achievements and fame were eclipsed by his 1995 trial in the brutal killings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, has died of cancer, his family announced Thursday on X. He was 76.

A post from the “Simpson Family” on Simpson’s verified X account Thursday morning said: “On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer.”