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Evel Knievel Dies at 69

Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2007 11:55 am
by The Laughing Man
Iconic Daredevil Evel Knievel Dies at 69

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) - Evel Knievel, the red-white-and-blue-spangled motorcycle daredevil whose jumps over crazy obstacles including Greyhound buses, live sharks and Idaho's Snake River Canyon made him an international icon in the 1970s, died Friday. He was 69.
Knievel's death was confirmed by his granddaughter, Krysten Knievel. He had been in failing health for years, suffering from diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable condition that scarred his lungs.

Knievel had undergone a liver transplant in 1999 after nearly dying of hepatitis C, likely contracted through a blood transfusion after one of his bone-shattering spills.

Longtime friend and promoter Billy Rundel said Knievel had trouble breathing at his Clearwater condominium and died before an ambulance could get him to a hospital.

"It's been coming for years, but you just don't expect it. Superman just doesn't die, right?" Rundel said.

Immortalized in the Washington's Smithsonian Institution as "America's Legendary Daredevil," Knievel was best known for a failed 1974 attempt to jump Snake River Canyon on a rocket-powered cycle and a spectacular crash at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. He suffered nearly 40 broken bones before he retired in 1980.

Though Knievel dropped off the pop culture radar in the '80s, the image of the high-flying motorcyclist clad in patriotic, star-studded colors was never erased from public consciousness. He always had fans and enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in recent years.

His death came just two days after it was announced that he and rapper Kanye West had settled a federal lawsuit over the use of Knievel's trademarked image in a popular West music video.

Knievel made a good living selling his autographs and endorsing products. Thousands came to Butte, Mont., every year as his legend was celebrated during the "Evel Knievel Days" festival, which Rundel organizes.

"They started out watching me bust my ass, and I became part of their lives," Knievel said. "People wanted to associate with a winner, not a loser. They wanted to associate with someone who kept trying to be a winner."

For the tall, thin daredevil, the limelight was always comfortable, the gab glib. To Knievel, there always were mountains to climb, feats to conquer.

"No king or prince has lived a better life," he said in a May 2006 interview with The Associated Press. "You're looking at a guy who's really done it all. And there are things I wish I had done better, not only for me but for the ones I loved."

He had a knack for outrageous yarns: "Made $60 million, spent 61. ...Lost $250,000 at blackjack once. ... Had $3 million in the bank, though."

He began his daredevil career in 1965 when he formed a troupe called Evel Knievel's Motorcycle Daredevils, a touring show in which he performed stunts such as riding through fire walls, jumping over live rattlesnakes and mountain lions and being towed at 200 mph behind dragster race cars.

In 1966 he began touring alone, barnstorming the West and doing everything from driving the trucks, erecting the ramps and promoting the shows. In the beginning he charged $500 for a jump over two cars parked between ramps.

He steadily increased the length of the jumps until, on New Year's Day he was nearly killed when he jumped 151 feet across the fountains in front of Caesar's Palace. He cleared the fountains but the crash landing put him in the hospital in a coma for a month.

His son, Robbie, successfully completed the same jump in April 1989.

In the years after the Caesar's crash, the fee for Evel's performances increased to $1 million for his jump over 13 buses at Wembley Stadium in London—the crash landing broke his pelvis—to more than $6 million for the Sept. 8, 1974, attempt to clear the Snake River Canyon in Idaho in a rocket-powered "Skycycle." The money came from ticket sales, paid sponsors and ABC's "Wide World of Sports."

The parachute malfunctioned and deployed after takeoff. Strong winds blew the cycle into the canyon, landing him close to the swirling river below.

On Oct. 25, 1975, he jumped 14 Greyhound buses at Kings Island in Ohio.

Knievel decided to retire after a jump in the winter of 1976 in which he was again seriously injured. He suffered a concussion and broke both arms in an attempt to jump a tank full of live sharks in the Chicago Amphitheater. He continued to do smaller exhibitions around the country with his son, Robbie.

Many of his records have been broken by daredevil motorcyclist Bubba Blackwell.

Knievel also dabbled in movies and TV, starring as himself in "Viva Knievel" and with Lindsay Wagner in an episode of the 1980s TV series "Bionic Woman." George Hamilton and Sam Elliott each played Knievel in movies about his life.

Evel Knievel toys accounted for more than $300 million in sales for Ideal and other companies in the 1970s and '80s.

Born Robert Craig Knievel in the copper mining town of Butte on Oct. 17, 1938, Knievel was raised by his grandparents. He traced his career choice back to the time he saw Joey Chitwood's Auto Daredevil Show at age 8.

Outstanding in track and field, ski jumping and ice hockey at Butte High School, he went on to win the Northern Rocky Mountain Ski Association Class A Men's ski jumping championship in 1957 and played with the Charlotte Clippers of the Eastern Hockey League in 1959.

He also formed the Butte Bombers semiprofessional hockey team, acting as owner, manager, coach and player.

Knievel also worked in the Montana copper mines, served in the Army, ran his own hunting guide service, sold insurance and ran Honda motorcycle dealerships. As a motorcycle dealer, he drummed up business by offering $100 off the price of a motorcycle to customers who could beat him at arm wrestling.

At various times and in different interviews, Knievel claimed to have been a swindler, a card thief, a safe cracker, a holdup man.

Evel Knievel married hometown girlfriend, Linda Joan Bork, in 1959. They separated in the early 1990s. They had four children, Kelly, Robbie, Tracey and Alicia.

Robbie Knievel followed in his father's footsteps as a daredevil, jumping a moving locomotive in a 200-foot, ramp-to-ramp motorcycle stunt on live television in 2000. He also jumped a 200-foot-wide chasm of the Grand Canyon.

Knievel lived with his longtime partner, Krystal Kennedy-Knievel, splitting his time between their Clearwater condo and Butte. They married in 1999 and divorced a few years later but remained together. Knievel had 10 grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
:cry: he made the big jump.....and I bet he aced the landing.

Here's to you buddy, :beer: for the joy of the rush you gave to me and millions of other kids out there. In my mind I can see my crumpled forks and twisted handlebars as I sit here, heh.

Nobody did it like Evel did it, and nobody says America like he did. We'll miss him, and noone can replace him, ever. 8)

Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2007 5:08 pm
by Cagliostro
Due to him, in the 70's, I really wanted to be a daredevil when I grew up. I had the Evel Knievel motorcycle guy that you revved up and sped off from the base. LOVED IT! One of my favorite toys. As a kid, I taught myself to fall down stairs so that it looked realistic, but never hurt. Then I got tall, and became a pussy, so my dream of daredevilhood came to an end.

Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2007 11:03 pm
by emotional leper
Don't worry! If someone ever tries to murder you by pushing you down stairs, boy, will they be in for a suprise!

Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2007 11:06 pm
by Fist and Faith
Man, his events were a big deal when I was a kid!! Like a Jacques Custeau/Costeaou/Cousteau special. Couldn't wait for the next one!

I always wanted one of Evel's belt buckles, because they said EK, which is my initials.

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 5:59 am
by Zarathustra
I had the EK action figure and motorcycle. He had superhero status to us kids in the 70s.

It's really weird . . . Hotrod came in the mail today from Netflix. It's about a guy who wants to become a stuntman because his dad was a stuntman, and worked for EK. So the climax of the movie involves beating EK's record of jumping 14 buses. Right after watching it, I saw a special about Evel on the History channel, and realized that there were some similarities between his famous jump and the fictional version. Seeing both in the same day, right after he died, was . ... like I said, weird.

I think it's absolutely badass that this guy made himself rich by jumping buses on a motorcycle. One man with balls of steel, able to make a million dollars in 20 seconds by risking death in a spectacularly entertaining way. He was a superhero.

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 6:47 am
by sgt.null
I also had the Evel figure with Cycle. enjoyed watching him as a kid.

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 7:10 am
by onewyteduck
Image

RIP!

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 12:58 pm
by Damelon
We set up jumps for our bikes using 4X8s propped up by concrete blocks, and for that reason my mother couldn't stand him. She thought he was a bad influence.

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 6:26 pm
by Zarathustra
Damelon wrote:We set up jumps for our bikes using 4X8s propped up by concrete blocks, and for that reason my mother couldn't stand him. She thought he was a bad influence.
Man, that sounds familiar! My mother wouldn't let me eat the candy cigarettes, either. Oh, and I had to get rid of my Star Wars toys because they were becoming a "Jesus substitute," which I guess is another way of saying I really liked them. Oh well.

We did the ramp thing, too. I mean we really did some dangerous things. We would lie down on the sidewalk and jump each other. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Of course my most embarrassing wound was huge, multiple scabs down my face where it scraped the sidewalk after riding my skateboard "street luge" style, except on my stomach face-forward. Maybe Mom was right about a few things. :)

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 6:39 pm
by CovenantJr
Malik23 wrote:[Oh, and I had to get rid of my Star Wars toys because they were becoming a "Jesus substitute"
8O That's a new one on me.

Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 1:19 am
by Romeo
A real American Hero. I'd with him to "rest in peace," but that just isn't his style. We'll miss you, Evil!!

We set up ramps for our bikes as well - but that was the least destructive of our antics (I'll tell you about the case of dynamite some time), so it was okay with my mom. :-) I remember getting the action figure and rocket cycle for xmas or my birthday when I was a kid - the one that went into the stand and you revved it up and pushed a button to let it go.

Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 6:11 am
by sgt.null
[quote="Malik23"]
We did the ramp thing, too. I mean we really did some dangerous things. We would lie down on the sidewalk and jump each other. [quote]


we did that on our porch. lay down on the steps while somebody jumped with a bike. how no one was injured is beyond me.