Orenthal James Simpson (July 9, 1947 – April 10, 2024)
In May 2023, Simpson reported that he had been diagnosed
with cancer and expressed confidence that he would beat it.
In February 2024, it was reported that he was undergoing treatment for prostate cancer. He died of the disease on
April 10, 2024, at the age of 76.
On April 11, 1921, KDKA in Pittsburgh broadcasts the first
live sporting event on the radio, a boxing match between
Johnny Ray and Johnny Dundee. Pittsburgh Daily Post
sports editor Florent Gibson calls the event, about four
months before KDKA’s Harold Arlin announces the first
Major League Baseball game broadcast on radio.
On April 11, 1970, Apollo 13, the third lunar landing mission, was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying
astronauts James A. Lovell, John L. Swigert and Fred W. Haise.
The spacecraft’s destination was the Fra Mauro highlands of the
moon, where the astronauts were to explore the Imbrium Basin
and conduct geological experiments.
After an oxygen tank exploded just over 200,000 miles from Earth
on the evening of April 13, however, the new mission objective
became to get the Apollo 13 crew home alive. The landing mission
was aborted.
The crew: Jim Lovell, John L. Swigert, and Fred Haise.
The Apollo 13 service module showing explosion damage. (NASA)
