Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter passes away at age 76

Rubin Carter, whose trials and tribulations were immortalized in both song and film, passed away on Sunday at the age of 76.

Carter, who was born on May 6, 1937, in Clifton, New Jersey, is unfortunately most famous for a wrongful murder conviction in 1967, which ended his boxing career and kept him in prison for 18 years. Bob Dylan's song "Hurricane" from his 1976 album Desire was written about Carter, and the 1999 film The Hurricane starred Denzel Washington, who received an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Carter.

Carter was one of many men who sort of reformed their lives through boxing. A troubled kid and later a petty criminal, Carter became a notable middleweight who ran up a record of 27-12-1 (19 KO) from 1961-66, knocking out Emile Griffith in 1963. He lost his one and only world title shot to Joey Giardello in 1964 (and it was not the robbery that the Hurricane film later dramatized it to be; Giardello successfully sued the filmmakers). He also had losses to Dick Tiger and Luis Manuel Rodriguez.

"The Hurricane" was finally freed from prison in 1985 after a long battle against his convictions.