O.J. Simpson

Simpson parlayed his athletic fame into a successful entertainment career, appearing in nearly 40 films including the Naked Gun comedy series and becoming an iconic pitchman for Hertz rental cars. People magazine called him "the first Black athlete to become a bona fide lovable media superstar" ^[2]. He also worked as a sports broadcaster for ABC's Monday Night Football and NBC.

His legacy was irrevocably altered on June 12, 1994, when his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman were found stabbed to death outside her Brentwood home. After the infamous slow-speed Bronco chase on June 17, Simpson stood trial in what became known as the "Trial of the Century." He was acquitted on October 3, 1995, but was found liable for the wrongful deaths in a 1997 civil suit and ordered to pay $33.5 million ^[1]. In 2008, he was convicted of armed robbery and kidnapping in Las Vegas and served nine years in prison before his release on parole in 2017 ^[3]. Simpson died of prostate cancer on April 10, 2024, at age 76, surrounded by his children and grandchildren.