Daredevil Evel Knievel dies at 69


· Motorcycle stuntman suffered lung disease
· Seventies star collapsed at home in Florida

Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Saturday December 1, 2007
The Guardian

Evel Knievel attempts a leap over 13 buses at Wemblesy stadium, London, in 1975.
Evel Knievel attempts a leap over 13 buses at Wembley stadium, London, in 1975. Photograph: PA


Evel Knievel, who earned worldwide fame for his bone-shattering motorcycle stunts and star-spangled white jumpsuits, collapsed and died yesterday at his home in Florida.

He was 69, and had been in poor health for years, suffering from diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable lung condition.

"It's been coming for years, but you just don't expect it. Superman just doesn't die, right," Billy Rundel, a long-time friend and promoter, said yesterday.

The stuntman had his heyday in the 1970s, when his daredevil jumps over Greyhound buses and live sharks, were immortalised in Knievel pinball games and action figures.

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But Knievel was as well known for his failures as his successes, which always made compelling television.

Among the most famous was his 1974 attempt to jump across Snake River canyon in Idaho on a rocket-powered cycle. Knievel crashed, but he made $6m that day from television rights and other marketing.

Such accidents, though they contributed to Knievel's glory, exacted a physical toll. He estimated that he broke about 40 bones during his career. He once spent days in a coma. The accumulated accidents nearly proved fatal after Knievel contracted hepatitis C, probably from a blood transfusion. He underwent a liver transplant in 1999 after nearly dying from the disease.

His personal life was just as high risk as his performances. Although ambitious and a natural athlete, playing minor league ice hockey and competing as a ski jumper, Knievel's teenage years and early 20s brought a series of run-ins with the authorities.

A native of Butte, Montana, Knievel was raised by his paternal grandparents after his parents divorced. He spent only two years in high school before dropping out to work in the copper mines and, according to popular lore, eventually lost his job for trying to drive a large earth mover on its rear wheels, and accidentally running it into a major power line. Butte lost power for several hours.

At 16, he was jailed for reckless driving.

As a young father in his 20s, he struggled to earn a living as an insurance salesman and motocross promoter, but found success only in 1966 when he began performing as a stuntman at agricultural fairs in California. After making his start jumping over rattlesnakes and mountain lions, he soon developed his signature act of a motorcycle jump over a line of cars.

By 1967, Knievel was clearing up to 16 cars in one jump, and television was making him an American folk hero - sometimes because of the crushing defeats. He began charging ever more astronomical sums for his feats - $1m for a performance at Wembley Stadium in 1975. He broke his pelvis trying to jump over a row of 13 buses, and announced his retirement - only to emerge a few months later in Ohio, and successfully jump over 14 buses.

In 1977, he was jailed for assaulting a former promoter, and was forced to declare himself bankrupt a few years later. In 1994, he was put on probation after being convicted on weapons charges, and forced to perform community service.

He re-entered the public consciousness only in 2006 when he sued the rapper Kanye West for using footage of the Snake River canyon jump in a music video.

The two reached a settlement only days ago.

Although mainstream America moved on to other fads from his daredevil stunts, Knievel never entirely lost his cult following, and made a good living selling autographs and endorsing products. His yearly festival in his home town continued to attract thousands of fans.

"They started out watching me bust my ass, and I became part of their lives," Knievel once said.

"People wanted to associate with a winner, not a loser. They wanted to associate with someone who kept trying to be a winner."



Guardian America