http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071130/ap_ ... it_knievel

 

 

 

CLEARWATER, Fla. - 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.

 

 

 

"I think he lived 20 years longer than most people would have" after so many injuries, said his son Kelly Knievel, 47. "I think he willed himself into an extra five or six years."

 

 

 

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 [wagon], 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 1968, 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 ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Ã

an attempt to jump a tank full of live sharks

 

 

 

Awsome. :lol:

 

 

 

That guy must have had no regrets when he died, ah may he rest in peace.

R.I.P. :( .

That man was a man... Not afraid to live his life.

 

 

 

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."

 

 

 

I don't know why but that somehow reminds me of Maddox when he has his 'attitude' turned on.. :lol:

Evel Knievel was an idiot.

 

 

 

A gloriously awesome idiot.

 

 

 

RIP man.

I thought he was already dead :shock:

R.I.P

 

 

 

I thought you stop posting all these news threads though :(

R.I.P

 

 

 

I thought you stop posting all these news threads though :(

 

this isn;t news. It's tragedy.

What a legend.

 

 

 

Its almost a shame that he didn't go out doing something epic.

 

 

 

 

 

R.I.P.

The guy who made it all happen.

 

 

 

R.I.P.

I don't know why but that somehow reminds me of Maddox when he has his 'attitude' turned on.. :lol:

 

 

 

You're seriously comparing one of the world's greatest ever entertainers to Maddox? Please...

 

 

 

R.I.P Evel. We all know he can after the stuff he achieved :)

Ironic that he died slowly instead of in one of his stunts.

 

 

 

R.I.P.

No doubt that he was entertaining.

 

 

 

But he was just a waste of space piss head tbh.

Can't say he had a full life. :)

 

 

 

RIP.

=D>

 

 

 

Evel was a real man. Like others said I don't think anyone else has ever lived their life so fully.

 

 

 

R.I.P

I never saw any of his stunts, but I damn sure heard of him. RIP.

I saw this earlier. :(

 

 

 

May he rest in peace. He was an awesome man.

Dudes lucky he lived as long as he did...

 

 

 

Speaking of which... anyone see that Rodney King got shot? XD

Evil Kneival was a true American to the end. He lived a full life, and he was probably a bit messed up in the head :wink:

 

 

 

RIP Evil

From what I've heard he's a daredevil? Sweet. Hope that made good money. Good thing he didn't die in his job.

 

 

 

R.I.P

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

 

 

 

R.I.P Evel.

I don't know why but that somehow reminds me of Maddox when he has his 'attitude' turned on.. :lol:

 

 

 

You're seriously comparing one of the world's greatest ever entertainers to Maddox? Please...

 

 

 

Thats funny 'cause thats what I liken your dry cynical predictable humour to.

Sad news indeed. R.I.P

Very sad :(

 

 

 

 

 

His son, Robbie, used to live in the same town as me. I met him at the airport when he came back from jumping the grand canyon

His son, Robbie, used to live in the same town as me. I met him at the airport when he came back from jumping the grand canyon

 

 

 

Yeah I remember watching that on Tv AGES ago. That was like 7 years ago or something right? :?