Thursday was a wild day for anyone who tracks historical moments by whether or not their teachers rolled out a TV cart. O.J. Simpson

Thursday was a wild day for anyone who tracks historical moments by whether or not their teachers rolled out a TV cart. O.J. Simpson, the football legend who was acquitted of double murder in 1995, died yesterday at 76 from cancer, his family announced, leaving a legacy that transformed American media and the criminal justice system.

In 1994, Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman were found stabbed to death outside of Brown’s home. Simpson was charged with the murders, but instead of turning himself in, he was part of an infamously low-speed chase in a white Ford Bronco, watched by nearly 95 million people. What followed was perhaps the most publicized trial of the century.