Evel Knievel
Encyclopedia
Evel Knievel (ˈ; October 17, 1938 – November 30, 2007), born Robert Craig Knievel, was an American daredevil
and entertainer. In his career he attempted over 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle
jumps between 1965 and 1980, and in 1974, a failed jump across Snake River Canyon
in the Skycycle X-2
, a steam-powered rocket. The 433 broken bones he suffered during his career earned an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the survivor of "most bones broken in a lifetime." Knievel died of pulmonary disease in Clearwater, Florida
, aged 69. According to The Times
writing his obituary, Knievel was one of the greatest American icons of the 1970s. Knievel was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame
in 1999.
Knievel was born in Butte, Montana
in 1938 and raised by his grandparents. After watching a Joie Chitwood
auto daredevil show as a child, he took to jumping using a pedal bike, later moving onto motorcycles. As a troubled youth, he earned his stagename after occupying a jail cell next to a man named Knofel, leading the jailer to refer to the pair as Awful Knofel and Evil Knievel (Knievel later changed the spelling of the first name to Evel). In addition to stunt riding at local shows, his early life including a spell in the United States Army
at the behest of a magistrate, as well as jobs as a hunting guide, an insurance salesman, while also becoming an ice-hockey team owner and running a business protection racket
. In these early years, Evel notably stopped an Elk cull in Yellowstone national park, and staged an exhibition match against the Czechoslovakian hockey team ahead of the 1960 Winter Olympics
in California. After moving into sports full time, he had moderate success on the motocross
circuit.
Knievel moved into the entertainment business in 1966 by setting up his own daredevil show, initially using a variety of performers and touring several US states, and later converting it to a solo show focused entirely on his jumps as the centre-piece. He came to national attention when he persuaded the owners of Caesars Palace
in Las Vegas
to let him jump their fountain on New Year's Eve 1967, which was filmed for ABC. After a failed landing, he spent 29 days in a coma. On his recovery, he continued to make high profile and lucrative jumps, and began lobbying the government for permission to jump the Grand Canyon
. When this failed, he settled on the Snake River jump in Twin Falls
, Idaho
. Proving to be his most spectacular feat, it became a debacle. Knievel attempted to jump it on September 8, 1974 in the Skycycle, which was essentially an unguided missile. Immediately after launch, the arresting parachute deployed, and the vehicle floated down on the near side crashing feet from the river's edge, with Knievel suffering minor injuries. Knievel then traveled to Britain, and on May 26, 1975, attempted to jump 13 buses in front of 90,000 people at Wembley Stadium, again crashing but with severe injuries. His longest completed career jump came at Kings Island
theme park in Ohio on October 25, 1975, jumping 14 buses, marking his peak television audience. After this jump, Knievel's jumps became smaller, and he eventually withdrew from doing major shows after cancelling an attempt to jump a tank full of live sharks in Chicago after injuring himself and a cameraman during a practice jump. He instead concentrated on touring with and training his son Robbie Knievel
, also a daredevil, eventually making his last jump in March 1981.
In his career heyday, Knievel's nationally televised motorcycle jumps were four of the twenty most-watched ABC's Wide World of Sports
events to date. He became a celebrity, recognizable for his use of a Stars-and-Stripes
red white and blue "#1" set of motorcycle leathers and cape. On the back of this fame, Knievel gained endorsements from Harley-Davidson
and a toy line by the Ideal Toy Company
. A 1971 film Evel Knievel
starred George Hamilton
as Knievel, and he starred as himself in the 1977 film Viva Knievel!
. In 1977, Knievel served six months in jail for assaulting his Snake River promoter Shelly Saltman for writing an unflattering book. After this conviction, Knievel's career suffered, causing him to declare bankruptcy. In 1981, Saltman was awarded $13 million in damages, although he was never paid. Knievel later said of his career that he had "earned $60 million, and spent $62 million".
, in 1938, the first of two children born to Robert E. and Ann Keough "Zippy" Knievel. His surname is of German
origin; his great-great-grandparents on his father's side emigrated to the United States from Germany. Robert and Ann divorced in 1940, after the birth of their second child, Nic. Both parents decided to leave Butte. Robert and Nic were raised by paternal grandparents, Ignatius and Emma Knievel. At the age of eight, he attended a Joie Chitwood
Auto Daredevil Show, to which he gave credit for his later career choice to become a motorcycle daredevil
.p. 38
Knievel ended high school after his sophomore year and got a job in the copper mines with the Anaconda Mining Company as a diamond drill operator. However, he preferred motorbiking to all this 'unimportant stuff' as he put it. He was then promoted to surface duty where he drove a large earth mover
. Knievel was fired when he made the earth mover do a motorcycle-type wheelie
and drove it into Butte's main power line. The incident left the city without electricity for several hours. Idle, Knievel began to find himself in more and more trouble around Butte. After a police chase in 1956 in which he crashed his motorcycle, Knievel was taken to jail on a charge of reckless driving. When the night jailer came around to check the roll, he noted Robert Knievel in one cell and William Knofel in the other. Knofel was well known as "Awful Knofel" ("awful" rhyming with "Knofel") so Knievel began to be referred to as Evel Knievel ("Evel" rhyming with "Knievel"). He chose this misspelling because of his last name and because he didn't want to be considered "evil".
Always looking for new thrills and challenges, Knievel participated in local professional rodeo
s and ski jumping
events, including winning the Northern Rocky Mountain Ski Association Class A Men's ski jumping championship in 1959
. During the late 1950s, Knievel joined the United States Army
. His athletic ability allowed him to join the track team where he was a pole vault
er. After his army stint, Knievel returned to Butte where he met and married his first wife, Linda Joan Bork.
Shortly after getting married, Knievel started the Butte Bombers, a semi-pro hockey team.p. 21 To help promote his team and earn some money, he convinced the 1960 Olympic
Czechoslovakia
n hockey team to play the Butte Bombers in a warm-up game to the Olympics. Knievel was ejected from the game minutes into the third period and left the stadium. When the Czechoslovakian officials went to the box office to collect the expense money the team was promised, workers discovered the game receipts had been stolen. The United States Olympic Committee
wound up paying the Czechoslovakian team's expenses to avoid an international incident.p. 21-22 Evel Knievel also played with the Charlotte Checkers of the Eastern Hockey League.
After the birth of his first son, Kelly, Knievel realized that he needed to come up with a new way to support his family financially. Using the hunting
and fishing
skills his grandfather had taught him, Knievel started the Sur-Kill Guide Service. He guaranteed that if a hunter employed his service and paid his fee, they would get the big game
animal they wanted or he would refund their money. Business was very good until game warden
s realized that Knievel was taking his clients into Yellowstone National Park
to find prey. The Park Service ordered Knievel to cease and desist this poaching
.
In response Knievel, who was learning about the culling
of elk
in Yellowstone, decided to hitchhike
from Butte to Washington, D.C.
in December 1961 to raise awareness and to have the elk relocated to areas where hunting was permitted. After his conspicuous trek (he hitchhiked with a 54 inches (1,371.6 mm) rack of elk antlers and a petition with 3,000 signatures), he presented his case to Representative
Arnold Olsen
, Senator
Mike Mansfield
and Interior Secretary Stewart Udall
. As a result of his efforts, the culling was stopped, and the animals have since been regularly captured and relocated to areas of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho.
After returning home from Washington, Knievel decided to stop committing crimes. He joined the motocross
circuit and had moderate success, but he still couldn't make enough money to support his family. During 1962
, Knievel broke his collarbone and shoulder in a motocross accident. The doctors said he couldn't race for at least six months. To help support his family, he switched careers and sold insurance for the Combined Insurance Company of America, working for W. Clement Stone
. Stone suggested that Knievel read Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude, a book that Stone wrote with Napoleon Hill
. Knievel credited much of his success to Stone and his book.
Knievel was successful as an insurance salesman (even selling insurance policies to several institutionalized mental patients) and wanted recognition for his efforts. When the company refused to promote him to vice-president after a few months on the job he quit. Wanting a new start away from Butte, Knievel moved his family to Moses Lake, Washington
. There, he opened a Honda
motorcycle dealership and promoted motocross racing. During the early 1960s, it was difficult to promote Japan
ese imports. People still considered them inferior to American built motorcycles, and there was lingering resentment from World War II
, which had ended less than 20 years earlier. Once, Knievel offered a $100 discount to anybody who could beat him at arm wrestling
. Despite his best efforts the business eventually had to be closed.
After the closure of the Moses Lake Honda dealership, Knievel went to work for Don Pomeroy at his motorcycle shop in Sunnyside, Washington
. It is here where Jim Pomeroy
, a well known motocross racer taught Knievel how to do a "wheelie" and ride while standing on the seat of the bike.
show he saw as a boy and decided that he could do something similar using a motorcycle. Promoting the show himself, Knievel rented the venue, wrote the press releases, set up the show, sold the tickets and served as his own master of ceremonies. After enticing the small crowd with a few wheelies, he proceeded to jump a twenty-foot-long box of rattlesnakes and two mountain lions. Despite landing short and having his back wheel hit the box containing the rattlesnakes, Knievel managed to land safely.
Knievel realized to make any amount of real money he would need to hire more performers, stunt coordinators and other personnel so that he could concentrate on the jumps. With little money, he went looking for a sponsor and found one in Bob Blair, owner of ZDS Motors, Inc., the West coast distributor for Berliner Motor Corporation
, a distributor for Norton Motorcycles. Blair offered to provide the needed motorcycles, but he wanted the name changed from the Bobby Knievel and His Motorcycle Daredevils Thrill Show to Evil Knievel and His Motorcycle Daredevils. Knievel didn't want his image to be that of a Hells Angels
rider, so he convinced Blair to allow him to use Evel instead of Evil.
The debut of Knievel and his daredevils was on January 3, 1966, at the National Date Festival in Indio, California
. The show was a huge success. Knievel received several offers to host the show after their first performance. The second booking was in Hemet, California
, but was canceled due to rain. The next performance was on February 10, in Barstow, California
. During the performance, Knievel attempted a new stunt where he would jump, spread eagle
, over a speeding motorcycle. Knievel jumped too late and the motorcycle hit him in the groin
, tossing him fifteen feet into the air. He was placed in the hospital as a result of his injuries. When released, he returned to Barstow to finish the performance he had started almost a month earlier.
Knievel's daredevil show broke up after the Barstow performance because injuries prevented him from performing. After recovering, Knievel started traveling from small town to small town as a solo act. To get ahead of other motorcycle stunt people who were jumping animals or pools of water, Knievel started jumping cars. He began adding more and more cars to his jumps when he would return to the same venue to get people to come out and see him again. Knievel hadn't had a serious injury since the Barstow performance, but on June 19 in Missoula, Montana
, he attempted to jump twelve cars and a cargo van. The distance he had for takeoff didn't allow him to get up enough speed. His back wheel hit the top of the van while his front wheel hit the top of the landing ramp. Knievel ended up with a severely broken arm and several broken ribs. The crash and subsequent stay in the hospital were a publicity windfall.
With each successful jump, the public wanted him to jump one more car. On May 30, 1967, Knievel successfully cleared sixteen cars in Gardena, California
. Then he attempted the same jump on July 28, 1967, in Graham, Washington
, where he had his next serious crash. Landing his cycle on a panel truck that was the last vehicle, Knievel was thrown from his bike. This time he suffered a serious concussion. After a month, he recovered and returned to Graham on August 18 to finish the show; but the result was the same, only this time the injuries were more serious. Again coming up short, Knievel crashed, breaking his left wrist, right knee and two ribs.
Knievel finally received some national exposure when actor Joey Bishop
had him on as a guest of The Joey Bishop Show
. All the attention not only brought larger paydays, but also female admirers.
, to watch Dick Tiger
successfully defend his WBA and WBC light heavyweight titles at the Las Vegas Convention Center
on November 17, 1967, Knievel first saw the fountains at Caesars Palace
and decided to jump them. To get an audience with the casino's CEO Jay Sarno
, Knievel created a fictitious corporation called Evel Knievel Enterprises and three fictitious lawyers to make phone calls to Sarno. Knievel also placed phone calls to Sarno claiming to be from ABC-TV
and Sports Illustrated
inquiring about the jump. Sarno finally agreed to meet Knievel and the deal was set for Knievel to jump the fountains on December 31, 1967. After the deal was set, Knievel tried to get ABC to air the event live on Wide World of Sports. ABC declined, but said that if Knievel had the jump filmed and it was as spectacular as he said it would be, they would consider using it later.
Knievel used his own money to have actor/director John Derek
produce a film of the Caesars' jump. To keep costs low, Derek used his then-wife Linda Evans
as one of the camera operators. It was Evans who filmed Knievel's famous landing. On the morning of the jump, Knievel stopped in the casino
and placed his last 100 dollars on the blackjack
table (which he lost), stopped by the bar and had a shot of Wild Turkey
and then headed outside where he was joined by several members of the Caesars staff, as well as two showgirl
s. After doing his normal pre-jump show and a few warm up approaches, Knievel began his real approach. When he hit the takeoff ramp, he felt the motorcycle unexpectedly decelerate. The sudden loss of power on the takeoff caused Knievel to come up short and land on the safety ramp which was supported by a van. This caused the handlebars to be ripped out of his hands as he tumbled over them onto the pavement where he skidded into the Dunes
parking lot. As a result of the crash, Knievel suffered a crushed pelvis and femur, fractures to his hip, wrist and both ankles and a concussion that kept him in a coma
for 29 days.
The Caesars Palace crash would represent Knievel's longest attempted motorcycle jump at 141 feet. After his crash and recovery Knievel was more famous than ever. ABC-TV bought the rights to the film of the jump paying far more than they originally would have had they televised the original jump live. Ironically, when Knievel finally achieved the fame and possible fortune that he always wanted, his doctors were telling him that he might never walk without the aid of crutches, let alone ride and jump motorcycles.
In a 1971 interview with Dick Cavett
, Knievel stated that he was uninsurable following the Caesars' crash. Knievel said he was turned down 37 times from Lloyds of London, stating, "I have trouble getting life insurance, accident insurance, hospitalization and even insurance for my automobile…Lloyds of London has rejected me 37 times so if you hear the rumor that they insure anybody, don’t pay too much attention to it." Four years later, a clause in Knievel's contract to jump 14-buses at Kings Island
required a one-day $1,000,000 liability insurance to the amusement park. Lloyds of London offered the liability insurance for what was called a "laughable $17,500". Knievel eventually paid $2,500 to a state-side insurance company.
. Just five months after his near fatal crash, Knievel performed another jump. On May 25, 1968, in Scottsdale, Arizona
, Knievel crashed while attempting to jump fifteen Ford Mustang
s. Knievel ended up breaking his right leg and foot as a result of the crash.
On August 3, 1968, Knievel returned to jumping, making more money than ever before. He was earning approximately $25,000 per performance, and he was making successful jumps almost weekly until October 13, in Carson City, Nevada
. While trying to stick the landing, he lost control of the bike and crashed again, breaking his hip once more.
By 1971, Knievel realized that the United States government would never allow him to jump the Grand Canyon. To keep his fans interested, Knievel considered several other stunts that might match the publicity that would have been generated by jumping the canyon; ideas included: jumping across the Mississippi River
, jumping from one skyscraper to another in New York City and jumping over 13 cars inside the Houston Astrodome. While flying back to Butte from a performance tour, Knievel looked out the window and saw Snake River Canyon. After finding a location near Twin Falls, Idaho, that was both wide enough, deep enough and on private property, Knievel leased 300 acres (1.2 km²) for $35,000 to stage his jump. He set the date for Labor Day
(September 4), 1972.
On January 7 and January 8, 1971, Knievel set the record by selling over 100,000 tickets to back-to-back performances at the Houston Astrodome. On February 28, he set a new world record by jumping 19 cars with his Harley-Davidson XR-750
at the Ontario Motor Speedway
in Ontario, California
. The 19 car jump was also filmed for the movie, Evel Knievel
. Knievel held the record for 27 years until Bubba Blackwell
jumped 20 cars in 1998 with an XR-750.
On May 10, Knievel crashed while attempting to jump 13 Pepsi delivery trucks. His approach was complicated by the fact that he had to start on pavement, cut across grass, and then return to pavement. His lack of speed caused the motorcycle to come down front wheel first. He managed to hold on until the cycle hit the base of the ramp. After being thrown off he skidded for 50 feet (15.2 m). Knievel broke his collarbone, suffered a compound fracture of his right arm and broke both legs.
On March 3, 1972, at the Cow Palace
in Daly City, California
, after making a successful jump, he tried to come to a quick stop because of a short landing area. Knievel suffered a broken back and a concussion after getting thrown off and run over by his motorcycle, a Harley-Davidson. Knievel returned to jumping in November, 1973, where he successfully jumped over 50 stacked cars at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
. For 35 years, Knievel held the record for successfully jumping the most stacked cars on a Harley-Davidson XR-750 (the record was broken in October 2008. His historic XR-750 is now part of the collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History
. Made of steel, aluminum and fiberglass, the customized motorcycle weighs about 300 pounds.
, rumors of the Canyon jump were started by Knievel himself in 1968 following the Caesars Palace crash. During a 1968 interview, Knievel stated, "I don't care if they say, 'Look, kid, you're going to drive that thing off the edge of the Canyon and die,' I'm going to do it. I want to be the first. If they'd let me go to the moon, I'd crawl all the way to Cape Kennedy just to do it. I'd like to go to the moon, but I don't want to be the second man to go there." For the next several years, Knievel would negotiate with the U.S. government to secure a jumping site and develop various concept bikes to make the jump. However, the U.S. Department of Interior denied him airspace over the Grand Canyon. Therefore, in 1971, Knievel switched his attention to the Snake River Canyon.
In the movie, Evel Knievel, George Hamilton (as Knievel) alludes to the Canyon jump in the final scene of the movie. One of the common movie posters for the 1971 film depicts Knievel jumping his motorcycle off a (likely) Grand Canyon cliff. In 1999, Knievel's son, Robbie
, jumped a portion of the Grand Canyon owned by the Hualapai
Indian Reservation.
and Vince McMahon, Sr., were later said to be silent promoters of this event. Arum partnered with Invest West Sports, Shelly Saltman
's company, to secure from Invest West Sports two things: 1.) the necessary financing for the jump and 2.) the services of Saltman, long recognized as one of America's premier public relations and promotion men, to do publicity so that Knievel could concentrate on his jumps. Knievel then hired subcontractor
and aeronautical engineer Doug Malewicki to build him a rocket-powered cycle that he could use to jump across the Snake River
, to be called the X-1 Skycycle. Doug's creation was powered by a steam engine built by former Aerojet engineer Robert Truax
. On April 15, 1972 the X-1 was launched to test the feasibility of the launching ramp. The decision was then made to have Truax build the Skycycle X-2
and have it take off and fly more like a rocket than a motorcycle.
The launch at Snake River Canyon (42.59713°N 114.42292°W) was on September 8, 1974, at 3:36 p.m. MDT. The steam that powered the engine was superheated to a temperature of 500 °F (260 °C). Upon take-off, the drogue parachute deployed. The deployed chute caused enough drag that even though the skycycle made it all the way across the canyon to the north rim, the prevailing winds caused it to drift back south, into the canyon. By the time it hit the bottom of the canyon, it landed only a few feet from the water on the same side of the canyon it had been launched from. If he had landed in the water, Knievel would have drowned due to a jumpsuit/harness malfunction which kept him strapped in the vehicle. Knievel survived the jump with only minor injuries.
double-deck type). After the crash, despite breaking his pelvis, Knievel addressed the audience and announced his retirement by stating "ladies and gentlemen of this wonderful country, I have to tell you that you are the last people in the world who will see me jump. Because I will never, ever, ever jump again. I’m through." Near shock and not yielding to Frank Gifford
's (of ABC Wide World of Sports) plea to use a stretcher
, Knievel walked off the Wembley field stating, "I came in walking, I went out walking!"
buses at the Kings Island
theme park in Ohio. Although Knievel landed on the safety deck above the 14th bus, his landing was successful and he held the record for jumping the most buses on a Harley-Davidson
for 24 years (until broken by Bubba Blackwell
in late 1999). The Kings Island event scored the highest viewer ratings in the history of ABC's Wide World of Sports and would serve as Knievel's longest successful jump at 133 feet (although the Caesars Palace
jump was longer, it ended in a crash). After the Kings Island jump, Knievel again announced his retirement.
Again, his retirement was short lived and Knievel continued to jump. However, after the lengthy Kings Island jump, Knievel limited the remainder of his career jumps to shorter and more attainable lengths. Evel jumped on October 31, 1976, at the Seattle Kingdome. He only jumped seven Greyhound Buses but it was a success. Despite the crowd's pleasure, Knievel felt that it was not his best jump, and apologized to the crowd.
, Illinois
. The jump was inspired by the film, Jaws
. Knievel was scheduled to jump a tank full of live sharks and would be televised live nationally. However, during his rehearsal, Knievel lost control of the motorcycle and crashed into a cameraman. Although Knievel broke his arms, he was more distraught over a permanent injury his accident caused to the cameraman (who lost his eye). The footage of this crash was so upsetting to Knievel, that he did not show the clip for 19 years until the documentary, Absolute Evel: The Evel Knievel Story.
After the failed shark jump
, Knievel retired from major performances and limited his appearances to smaller venues to help launch the career of his son, Robbie Knievel
. His last stunt show, not including a jump, took place in March 1980 in Puerto Rico
. However, Knievel would officially finish his career as a daredevil as a touring "companion" of his son, Robbie, limiting his performance to speaking only, rather than stunt riding. His last appearance with Robbie (on tour) was in March 1981 in Hollywood, Florida
.
, who entered an arena to fight numerous foes to which he may succumb death with skill and bravery.
The term was made popular in the 1971 eponymous movie
starring George Hamilton
. In the movie, Hamilton (as Knievel) states, "I am the last gladiator in the new Rome. I go into the arena and I compete against destruction and I win. And next week, I go out there and I do it again."
Evel Knievel's 1988 self-produced documentary was entitled, "Last of the Gladiators".
Between December 1969 and April 1970, Knievel used the Laverda
American Eagle 750cc motorcycle. On December 12, 1970, Knievel would switch to the Harley-Davidson XR-750
, the motorcycle with which he is best known for jumping. Knievel would use the XR-750 in association with Harley-Davidson until 1977. However, after his 1977 conviction for the assault of Shelly Saltman, Harley-Davidson withdrew their sponsorship of Knievel.
On September 8, 1974, Knievel attempted to jump the Snake River Canyon on a rocket propelled motorcycle designed by former NASA engineer Robert Truax dubbed the Skycycle X-2
. The State of Idaho registered the X-2 as an airplane rather than a motorcycle.
At the tail end of his career, while helping launch the career of his son, Robbie Knievel
, Knievel returned to the Triumph T120. However, he only performed wheelies and did not jump after retiring the XR-750.
In 1997, Knievel signed with the California Motorcycle Company
to release a limited Evel Knievel Motorcycle. However, the motorcycle was not built to jump, but was rather a V-twin cruiser motorcycle intended to compete with Harley-Davidson street bikes. Knievel promoted the motorcycle at his various public appearances. After the company closed in 2003, Knievel returned to riding modern street Harley-Davidson
motorcycles at his public appearances.
Evel's son, Robbie Knievel
, sold limited-edition motorcycles from his company, Knievel Motorcycles Manufacturing Inc. Although two of the motorcycles refer to Evel (the Legend Series Evel Commemorative and the Snake River Canyon motorcycle), Evel did not ride Robbie's bikes.
. When Knievel began jumping, he used a black and yellow jumpsuit. Shortly therefore, when he switched to the Triumph motorcycle, his jumpsuit changed to a white suit with stripes down the legs and sleeves. Two variations of the white suit appeared (one with three stars across the chest and one with the three stars on his right chest). The later was worn at the Caesars Palace jump.
When Knievel switched to the Laverda motorcycle in 1969, he switched his leathers to a white jumpsuit with Confederate stars on blue stripes. The Confederate stars jumpsuit was used in the beginning and ending of the 1971 film, Evel Knievel
. Following the Confederate stars, Knievel adjusted the blue stripes to a V-shape (the first version of the V-shape was also used in the 1971 film's final jump). For the remainder of his career, variances of the V-shaped white-starred jumpsuit would be a constant, including a special nylon/canvass flightsuit that matched his white leathers for the X-2
jump. Each variance would become more elaborate, including the addition of the red-white-blue cape and the Elvis-styled belt-buckled with his initials “EK”. In 1975, Knievel premiered the blue leathers with red stars on the white stripes for the Wembley jump. Both the blue leathers and white leathers were featured in Viva Knievel.
In the documentary Last of the Gladiators, Knievel discussed the crash of a 1970 Pepsi-Cola sponsored jump in Yakima, Washington
. Knievel knew the jump was questionable, but stated, "I went ahead and did it anyway. When you give your word to somebody that you're going to do something, you've gotta do it." In the 1971 biopic, George Hamilton
(as Evel) emphasizes in the opening monologue that a man does not go back on his word.
Knievel would regularly share his anti-drug message, as it was another one of his core values. Knievel would preach an anti-drug message to children and adults before each of his stunts. One organization that Knievel regularly slammed for being drug dealers was the Hells Angels
. A near-riot erupted on March 3, 1971, at the Cow Palace
when a tire-iron (or coke can according to the Hells Angels) was thrown at Knievel during his stunt show, and Knievel and a majority of the spectators fought back, sending three of the fifteen Hells Angels to the hospital. The plot to his only motion picture as an actor, Viva Knievel, centers around Evel foiling the attempts of drug lords smuggling narcotics into America from Mexico.
s. The Bell Magnum helmet used in the Caesars' Palace jump is credited for saving Knievel's life after he fell off the motorcycle and hit his head on the ground (following the Caesars' Palace crash, each of Knievel's full-face helmets had the slogan, "Color Me Lucky"). As an ardent supporter of helmet use, Knievel once offered a cash reward for anyone who witnessed him stunting on a motorcycle without a helmet.
In 1987, Knievel supported a mandatory helmet bill in the State of California. During the Assembly Transportation Committee meeting, Knievel was introduced as "the best walking commercial for a helmet law".
continued into adulthood to perform as a professional motorcycle daredevil. After Evel's death, Kelly has overseen the Knievel legacy, including developing Knievel-related products and assisting Harley-Davidson
develop a museum exhibit. Knievel's courtship and marriage to Linda was the theme of the 1971 George Hamilton movie, Evel Knievel
. Linda and Evel divorced in 1997.
In 1999, Knievel married his girlfriend, Krystal Kennedy, whom he began dating in 1992. The marriage was held at Caesars Palace
in Las Vegas. The couple were married for two years, divorcing in 2001. Following the divorce, Krystal Knievel was granted a restraining order against him. However, Krystal and Evel would work out their differences, living together until Knievel's death. According to the investment magazine, Registered Rep., Knievel left his entire estate to Krystal.
was the first company to sign Knievel to an endorsement deal. At approximately the same time, Fanfare Films started production of Evel Knievel
, a 1971 movie starring George Hamilton
as Knievel. There have been two other movies made about Evel: A television pilot made in 1974 starring Sam Elliott
, and made-for-TV film in 2004 starring George Eads
. Also in 1974, Evel and Amherst Records released the self title album "Evel Knievel" which included a press conference, an anti-drug talk for his young fans, and four other tracks.
Knievel kept up his pursuit of getting the United States government to allow him to jump the Grand Canyon. To push his case, he hired famed San Francisco defense attorney Melvin Belli
to fight the legal battle in obtaining government permission. ABC's Wide World of Sports started showing Knievel's jumps on television regularly. His popularity, especially with young boys, was ever increasing. He became a hero to a generation of young boys, many of whom were injured trying to imitate his stunts. A. J. Foyt
made Knievel part of his pit crew
for the Indianapolis 500
in 1970. Evel Knievel's huge fame caused him to start traveling with a bodyguard, Boots Curtis. Curtis became a long time friend to Knievel.
released a series of Evel Knievel related merchandise. During the six years the toys were manufactured, Ideal claimed to have sold more than $125 million worth of Knievel toys. The toys included the original 1972 figures, which offered various outfits and accessories. In 1973, Ideal released the Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle. After the release of the Stunt Cycle, the Knievel toys were the best selling item for Ideal.
During the next four years, Ideal Toys released various models relating to Evel Knievel’s touring stunt show. The models included a Robbie Knievel
doll, the Scamble Van, a Dragster, a Stunt Car, and the Evel Knievel The Stunt World. Additionally, Ideal released non-Knievel-touring toys, including a Chopper Motorcycle, a Trail Bike, and a female counterpart, Derry Daring. The last item before Ideal Toys discontinued the distribution of Knievel toys was the Strato-Cycle, based on the film, Viva Knievel.
In 1977, Bally marketed its Knievel pinball machine as the "first fully electronic commercial game"; it has elsewhere been described as one of the "last of the classic pre-digital games." (Both electromechanical and solid state versions were produced. The electromechanical version is extremely rare, with only 155 made).
Knievel made several television appearances, including frequenting as a guest on talk shows such as Dinah!
and Johnny Carson
's Tonight Show
. In 1977, Evel made a guest spot on The Bionic Woman
, where he played himself and gets inadvertently caught up in East German espionage while appearing in West Germany
. Actual footage from Evel's L.A. Coliseum jump over crushed cars was used in the beginning of the episode and an indoor jump over 11 cars and 1 van was used at the end of the film. Also in 1977, Warner Bros.
released Viva Knievel!
, a movie starring Knievel as himself and co-starring Lauren Hutton
, Gene Kelly
and Red Buttons. Similar to The Bionic Woman, actual footage from the Wembley jump was used in the movie.
. Outside the studio commissary, one of Knievel's friends grabbed Saltman and held him, while Knievel attacked him with an aluminum baseball bat
, declaring, "I'm going to kill you!" According to a witness to the attack, Knievel struck repeated blows at Saltman's head, with Saltman blocking the blows with his left arm. Saltman's arm and wrist were shattered in several places before he fell to the ground unconscious. It took numerous surgeries and permanent metal plates in his arm to eventually give Saltman back the use of his arm. Saltman's book was pulled from the shelves by the publisher after Knievel threatened to sue. Saltman later produced documents in both criminal and civil court that proved that, although Knievel claimed to have been insulted by statements in Saltman's book, he and his lawyers had actually been given editorial access to the book and had approved and signed off on every word prior to its publication. On October 14, 1977, Knievel pleaded guilty to battery and was sentenced to three years' probation and six months in county jail, during which he publicly flaunted his brief incarceration for the press.
After the assault of Saltman and time served in jail, Knievel lost most marketing endorsements and deals, including Harley-Davidson and Ideal Toys. With no income from jumping or sponsorship, Knievel was eventually forced to declare bankruptcy
. In 1981, Saltman was awarded a $13 million judgment against Knievel in a civil trial, but never received money from Knievel or Knievel's estate.
, selling works of art allegedly painted by him. After several years of obscurity, Knievel made a significant marketing comeback in the 1990s, representing Maxim Casino, Little Caesar's, Harley-Davidson
, and other firms.
In 1999, Knievel celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Snake River Canyon jump at the Twin Falls mall. His memorabilia was then stored at Kent Knigge's farm in Filer, Idaho, seven miles west of Twin Falls. During the same year, Knievel was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame
.
On November 19, 1999, on a special platform built on the fountains at Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip
near Las Vegas, Nevada (site of Evel's jump New Year's Eve 1967), Evel married long time girlfriend, 30-year-old Krystal Kennedy of Clearwater, Florida. Long-time friend Engelbert Humperdinck
sent a recorded tribute to the couple. They were divorced in 2001 but remained together until his death.
On October 9, 2005, Knievel promoted his last public "motorcycle ride" at the Milwaukee Harley-Davidson dealership. The ride was to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina
. Although he was originally scheduled to lead a benefit ride through Milwaukee, Knievel never rode the motorcycle because he suffered a mild (non-debilitating) stroke prior to the appearance and limited his visit to a signing session.
On July 27, 2006, on The Adam Carolla Show, Knievel said that he had idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
, and required supplemental oxygen therapy
24 hours a day.
On July 28, 2006, at Evel Knievel Days in Butte, Robbie jumped 196 feet in a tribute to his father, Evel. Robbie also appeared on stage with his father.
Shortly before his death, Knievel was saluted by Top Gear
presenter Richard Hammond
in a BBC2 Christmas special. The sixty minute programme Richard Hammond Meets Evel Knievel
aired on December 23, 2007, less than a month after his death. The documentary was filmed in July 2007 around the annual "Evel Knievel Days" festival in his old home town of Butte. Knievel was clearly in severely declining health, but he still displayed the same spirit and showmanship that had driven his career.
's Hour of Power television program and announced that he "believed in Jesus Christ" for the first time. At his request, he was baptized before the congregation and TV cameras by Schuller, Founding Pastor of the Crystal Cathedral
. Christianity Today
reported that "...Knievel's testimony triggered mass baptisms at the Crystal Cathedral."
co-creator Keythe Farley, the production opened in Los Angeles in September 2007 to excellent reviews.
to name a new wooden coaster after "America's Legendary Daredevil". The amusement park in Eureka, Missouri
, outside of St. Louis, Missouri
, opened the ride on June 20, 2008. The Evel Knievel Roller Coaster operated for three seasons before being renamed American Thunder in 2011.
. He contracted the disease after one of the numerous blood transfusions he received prior to 1992. In February 1999, Knievel was given only a few days to live and he requested to leave the hospital and die at his home. En route to his home, Knievel received a phone call from the hospital stating a young man had died in a motorcycle accident and could be a donor. Days later, Knievel successfully received the transplant.
In 2005, he was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
, an incurable and terminal lung disease that required him to be on supplemental oxygen 24 hours a day. In 2006, Evel had an internal morphine
pain pump surgically implanted to help him with the excruciating pain in his deteriorated lower back, one of the costs of incurring so many traumas over the course of his career as a daredevil. He also had two strokes since 2005, but neither left him with severe debilitation.
Evel Knievel died in Clearwater, Florida
, on November 30, 2007, aged 69. He had been suffering from diabetes and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis for many years. A longtime friend reported that Knievel had trouble breathing while at his residence in Clearwater, but died on the way to the hospital. "It's been coming for years, but you just don't expect it. Superman just doesn't die, right?" In one of his last interviews, he told Maxim Magazine, "You can't ask a guy like me why [I performed]. I really wanted to fly through the air. I was a daredevil, a performer. I loved the thrill, the money, the whole macho thing. All those things made me Evel Knievel. Sure, I was scared. You gotta be an ass not to be scared. But I beat the hell out of death."
Knievel was buried at Mountain View Cemetery in his hometown of Butte, Montana on December 10, 2007, following a funeral at the 7,500-seat Butte Civic Center
presided over by Rev. Robert Schuller (actor Matthew McConaughey
gave the eulogy). Prior to the Monday service, fireworks exploded in the Butte night sky as pallbearers carried Knievel's casket into the center.
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The exhibit was opened in collaboration with Harley-Davidson Motorcycles and Evel’s oldest son, Kelly. Among the various artifacts from Knievel’s life, the exhibit included his “Shark Jump” Harley-Davidson XR-750, the X-2 Skycycle, his “Wembley Blue” jumpsuit, and his trademark “red, white and blue” jumpsuit complete with his helmet and walking stick. Evel Knievel merchandising, personal artifacts, and X-rays from his injuries were also exhibited.
The TRUE EVEL exhibit ran for approximately two months and ended on September 6, 2010. In December 2010, a traveling version of TRUE EVEL began a one-year tour of the United Kingdom and Europe. The tour began on 4 December in Gateshead.
In November 2010, General Motors
premiered a television commercial featuring Knievel's Wembley Stadium footage of the crash, followed by Knievel getting onto his feet. The ad focused on GM's restructuring and emphasized the belief that "we all fall down".
Stunt performer
A stuntman, or daredevil is someone who performs dangerous stunts, often as a career.These stunts are sometimes rigged so that they look dangerous while still having safety mechanisms, but often they are as dangerous as they appear to be...
and entertainer. In his career he attempted over 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle
Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...
jumps between 1965 and 1980, and in 1974, a failed jump across Snake River Canyon
Snake River Canyon (Idaho)
Snake River Canyon is a large canyon formed by the Snake River in the Magic Valley region of southern Idaho. It is well known as the site of an unsuccessful 1974 attempt by Evel Knievel to jump it in the Skycycle X-2....
in the Skycycle X-2
Skycycle X-2
Skycycle X-2 was a steam-powered rocket. An earlier prototype, the Skycycle X-1 designed by Doug Malewicki, and former USN engineer Robert Truax superficially resembled a motorcycle. The Skycycle X-2 was designed by Bob Truax, and ridden by Evel Knievel in his attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon...
, a steam-powered rocket. The 433 broken bones he suffered during his career earned an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the survivor of "most bones broken in a lifetime." Knievel died of pulmonary disease in Clearwater, Florida
Clearwater, Florida
Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, US, nearly due west of Tampa and northwest of St. Petersburg. In the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and in the east lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 108,787. It is the county seat of...
, aged 69. According to The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
writing his obituary, Knievel was one of the greatest American icons of the 1970s. Knievel was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame
Motorcycle Hall of Fame
The Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum is an offshoot of the American Motorcyclist Association that recognizes individuals who have contributed to motorcycle sport, motorcycle construction and motorcycling in general. It displays motorcycles and riding gear and memoribilia. The museum is located in...
in 1999.
Knievel was born in Butte, Montana
Butte, Montana
Butte is a city in Montana and the county seat of Silver Bow County, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. As of the 2010 census, Butte's population was 34,200...
in 1938 and raised by his grandparents. After watching a Joie Chitwood
Joie Chitwood
George Rice "Joie" Chitwood was an American racecar driver and businessman. He is best known as a daredevil in the Joie Chitwood Thrill Show....
auto daredevil show as a child, he took to jumping using a pedal bike, later moving onto motorcycles. As a troubled youth, he earned his stagename after occupying a jail cell next to a man named Knofel, leading the jailer to refer to the pair as Awful Knofel and Evil Knievel (Knievel later changed the spelling of the first name to Evel). In addition to stunt riding at local shows, his early life including a spell in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
at the behest of a magistrate, as well as jobs as a hunting guide, an insurance salesman, while also becoming an ice-hockey team owner and running a business protection racket
Protection racket
A protection racket is an extortion scheme whereby a criminal group or individual coerces a victim to pay money, supposedly for protection services against violence or property damage. Racketeers coerce reticent potential victims into buying "protection" by demonstrating what will happen if they...
. In these early years, Evel notably stopped an Elk cull in Yellowstone national park, and staged an exhibition match against the Czechoslovakian hockey team ahead of the 1960 Winter Olympics
1960 Winter Olympics
The 1960 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VIII Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event held between February 18 and 28, 1960 in Squaw Valley, California, United States. In 1955 at the 50th IOC meeting, the organizing committee made the surprise choice to award Squaw Valley as...
in California. After moving into sports full time, he had moderate success on the motocross
Motocross
Motocross is a form of motorcycle sport or all-terrain vehicle racing held on enclosed off road circuits. It evolved from trials, and was called scrambles, and later motocross, combining the French moto with cross-country...
circuit.
Knievel moved into the entertainment business in 1966 by setting up his own daredevil show, initially using a variety of performers and touring several US states, and later converting it to a solo show focused entirely on his jumps as the centre-piece. He came to national attention when he persuaded the owners of Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, an unincorporated township in Clark County, Nevada, United States in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Caesars Palace is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment Corp....
in Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
to let him jump their fountain on New Year's Eve 1967, which was filmed for ABC. After a failed landing, he spent 29 days in a coma. On his recovery, he continued to make high profile and lucrative jumps, and began lobbying the government for permission to jump the Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, the 15th national park in the United States...
. When this failed, he settled on the Snake River jump in Twin Falls
Twin Falls, Idaho
Twin Falls is the county seat and largest city of Twin Falls County, Idaho, United States. The population was 44,125 at the 2010 censusTwin Falls is the largest city of Idaho's Magic Valley region...
, Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
. Proving to be his most spectacular feat, it became a debacle. Knievel attempted to jump it on September 8, 1974 in the Skycycle, which was essentially an unguided missile. Immediately after launch, the arresting parachute deployed, and the vehicle floated down on the near side crashing feet from the river's edge, with Knievel suffering minor injuries. Knievel then traveled to Britain, and on May 26, 1975, attempted to jump 13 buses in front of 90,000 people at Wembley Stadium, again crashing but with severe injuries. His longest completed career jump came at Kings Island
Kings Island
Kings Island is a amusement park located northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio. Opened in 1972 by Taft Broadcasting Company and now owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, Kings Island is the most visited seasonal amusement park in the U.S...
theme park in Ohio on October 25, 1975, jumping 14 buses, marking his peak television audience. After this jump, Knievel's jumps became smaller, and he eventually withdrew from doing major shows after cancelling an attempt to jump a tank full of live sharks in Chicago after injuring himself and a cameraman during a practice jump. He instead concentrated on touring with and training his son Robbie Knievel
Robbie Knievel
Robert Edward "Robbie" Knievel is an American daredevil and son of stunt performer Evel Knievel.-Family:...
, also a daredevil, eventually making his last jump in March 1981.
In his career heyday, Knievel's nationally televised motorcycle jumps were four of the twenty most-watched ABC's Wide World of Sports
Wide World of Sports (US TV series)
ABC's Wide World of Sports is a sports anthology series on American television that ran from 1961 to 1998 and was originally hosted by Jim McKay. The title continued to be used for general sports programs until 2006...
events to date. He became a celebrity, recognizable for his use of a Stars-and-Stripes
Flag of the United States
The national flag of the United States of America consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars alternating with rows...
red white and blue "#1" set of motorcycle leathers and cape. On the back of this fame, Knievel gained endorsements from Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson , often abbreviated H-D or Harley, is an American motorcycle manufacturer. Founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during the first decade of the 20th century, it was one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression...
and a toy line by the Ideal Toy Company
Ideal Toy Company
Ideal Toy Company was founded as Ideal Novelty and Toy Company in New York in 1907 by Morris and Rose Michtom after they had invented the Teddy bear in 1903. The company changed its name to Ideal Toy Company in 1938...
. A 1971 film Evel Knievel
Evel Knievel (film)
Evel Knievel was a 1971 motion picture starring George Hamilton as motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel.- Story :The story is a biography of the famed motorcycle daredevil, much of which was filmed in his home town of Butte, Montana. The film depicts Knievel reflecting on major events in his life,...
starred George Hamilton
George Hamilton (actor)
George Stevens Hamilton is an American film and television actor.-Early life:Hamilton was the youngest son of bandleader George "Spike" Hamilton and his first wife, Ann Stevens . He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and lived in Blytheville, Arkansas...
as Knievel, and he starred as himself in the 1977 film Viva Knievel!
Viva Knievel!
As it happens, Evel does crash while attempting the stunt, and though badly injured, survives. He berates Morgan, announces his retirement, and is taken to the hospital....
. In 1977, Knievel served six months in jail for assaulting his Snake River promoter Shelly Saltman for writing an unflattering book. After this conviction, Knievel's career suffered, causing him to declare bankruptcy. In 1981, Saltman was awarded $13 million in damages, although he was never paid. Knievel later said of his career that he had "earned $60 million, and spent $62 million".
Early life
Robert Craig "Evel" Knievel was born in Butte, MontanaButte, Montana
Butte is a city in Montana and the county seat of Silver Bow County, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. As of the 2010 census, Butte's population was 34,200...
, in 1938, the first of two children born to Robert E. and Ann Keough "Zippy" Knievel. His surname is of German
German American
German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
origin; his great-great-grandparents on his father's side emigrated to the United States from Germany. Robert and Ann divorced in 1940, after the birth of their second child, Nic. Both parents decided to leave Butte. Robert and Nic were raised by paternal grandparents, Ignatius and Emma Knievel. At the age of eight, he attended a Joie Chitwood
Joie Chitwood
George Rice "Joie" Chitwood was an American racecar driver and businessman. He is best known as a daredevil in the Joie Chitwood Thrill Show....
Auto Daredevil Show, to which he gave credit for his later career choice to become a motorcycle daredevil
Stunt performer
A stuntman, or daredevil is someone who performs dangerous stunts, often as a career.These stunts are sometimes rigged so that they look dangerous while still having safety mechanisms, but often they are as dangerous as they appear to be...
.p. 38
Knievel ended high school after his sophomore year and got a job in the copper mines with the Anaconda Mining Company as a diamond drill operator. However, he preferred motorbiking to all this 'unimportant stuff' as he put it. He was then promoted to surface duty where he drove a large earth mover
Earth Mover
Earth Mover is the third studio album by Hard trance duo Cosmic Gate. It was released on September 18th, 2006 in Germany.-Track listing:#A Mile In My Shoes – 7:18#I Feel Wonderful – 4:38...
. Knievel was fired when he made the earth mover do a motorcycle-type wheelie
Wheelie
In vehicle acrobatics, a wheelie is a vehicle maneuver in which the front wheel or wheels come off the ground due to extreme torque being applied to the rear wheel or wheels. Wheelies are usually associated with bicycles and motorcycles, but can be done with other vehicles such as cars, especially...
and drove it into Butte's main power line. The incident left the city without electricity for several hours. Idle, Knievel began to find himself in more and more trouble around Butte. After a police chase in 1956 in which he crashed his motorcycle, Knievel was taken to jail on a charge of reckless driving. When the night jailer came around to check the roll, he noted Robert Knievel in one cell and William Knofel in the other. Knofel was well known as "Awful Knofel" ("awful" rhyming with "Knofel") so Knievel began to be referred to as Evel Knievel ("Evel" rhyming with "Knievel"). He chose this misspelling because of his last name and because he didn't want to be considered "evil".
Always looking for new thrills and challenges, Knievel participated in local professional rodeo
Rodeo
Rodeo is a competitive sport which arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico, and later the United States, Canada, South America and Australia. It was based on the skills required of the working vaqueros and later, cowboys, in what today is the western United States,...
s and ski jumping
Ski jumping
Ski jumping is a sport in which skiers go down a take-off ramp, jump and attempt to land as far as possible down the hill below. In addition to the length of the jump, judges give points for style. The skis used for ski jumping are wide and long...
events, including winning the Northern Rocky Mountain Ski Association Class A Men's ski jumping championship in 1959
1959 in sports
1959 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-American football:* NFL Championship – Baltimore Colts won 31-16 over the New York Giants* August 14 - The American Football League is founded...
. During the late 1950s, Knievel joined the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. His athletic ability allowed him to join the track team where he was a pole vault
Pole vault
Pole vaulting is a track and field event in which a person uses a long, flexible pole as an aid to leap over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the ancient Greeks, as well as the Cretans and Celts...
er. After his army stint, Knievel returned to Butte where he met and married his first wife, Linda Joan Bork.
Shortly after getting married, Knievel started the Butte Bombers, a semi-pro hockey team.p. 21 To help promote his team and earn some money, he convinced the 1960 Olympic
1960 Winter Olympics
The 1960 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VIII Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event held between February 18 and 28, 1960 in Squaw Valley, California, United States. In 1955 at the 50th IOC meeting, the organizing committee made the surprise choice to award Squaw Valley as...
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
n hockey team to play the Butte Bombers in a warm-up game to the Olympics. Knievel was ejected from the game minutes into the third period and left the stadium. When the Czechoslovakian officials went to the box office to collect the expense money the team was promised, workers discovered the game receipts had been stolen. The United States Olympic Committee
United States Olympic Committee
The United States Olympic Committee is a non-profit organization that serves as the National Olympic Committee and National Paralympic Committee for the United States and coordinates the relationship between the United States Anti-Doping Agency and the World Anti-Doping Agency and various...
wound up paying the Czechoslovakian team's expenses to avoid an international incident.p. 21-22 Evel Knievel also played with the Charlotte Checkers of the Eastern Hockey League.
After the birth of his first son, Kelly, Knievel realized that he needed to come up with a new way to support his family financially. Using the hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
and fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
skills his grandfather had taught him, Knievel started the Sur-Kill Guide Service. He guaranteed that if a hunter employed his service and paid his fee, they would get the big game
Game (food)
Game is any animal hunted for food or not normally domesticated. Game animals are also hunted for sport.The type and range of animals hunted for food varies in different parts of the world. This will be influenced by climate, animal diversity, local taste and locally accepted view about what can or...
animal they wanted or he would refund their money. Business was very good until game warden
Game warden
A game warden is an employee who has the role of protecting wildlife. Game wardens may also be referred to as conservation officers or wildlife officers...
s realized that Knievel was taking his clients into Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho...
to find prey. The Park Service ordered Knievel to cease and desist this poaching
Poaching
Poaching is the illegal taking of wild plants or animals contrary to local and international conservation and wildlife management laws. Violations of hunting laws and regulations are normally punishable by law and, collectively, such violations are known as poaching.It may be illegal and in...
.
In response Knievel, who was learning about the culling
Culling
Culling is the process of removing animals from a group based on specific criteria. This is done either to reinforce certain desirable characteristics or to remove certain undesirable characteristics from the group...
of elk
Elk
The Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...
in Yellowstone, decided to hitchhike
Hitchhiking
Hitchhiking is a means of transportation that is gained by asking people, usually strangers, for a ride in their automobile or other road vehicle to travel a distance that may either be short or long...
from Butte to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
in December 1961 to raise awareness and to have the elk relocated to areas where hunting was permitted. After his conspicuous trek (he hitchhiked with a 54 inches (1,371.6 mm) rack of elk antlers and a petition with 3,000 signatures), he presented his case to Representative
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
Arnold Olsen
Arnold Olsen
Arnold Olsen was a U.S. Democratic politician from the state of Montana.-Early life:He was born in Butte, Montana on December 17, 1916. He attended Butte public schools, the Montana School of Mines, 1934–1936, and graduated from the Montana State University Law School , Missoula, Montana in 1940...
, Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Mike Mansfield
Mike Mansfield
Michael Joseph Mansfield was an American Democratic politician and the longest-serving Majority Leader of the United States Senate, serving from 1961 to 1977. He also served as United States Ambassador to Japan for over ten years...
and Interior Secretary Stewart Udall
Stewart Udall
Stewart Lee Udall was an American politician. After serving three terms as a congressman from Arizona, he served as Secretary of the Interior from 1961 to 1969, under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B...
. As a result of his efforts, the culling was stopped, and the animals have since been regularly captured and relocated to areas of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho.
After returning home from Washington, Knievel decided to stop committing crimes. He joined the motocross
Motocross
Motocross is a form of motorcycle sport or all-terrain vehicle racing held on enclosed off road circuits. It evolved from trials, and was called scrambles, and later motocross, combining the French moto with cross-country...
circuit and had moderate success, but he still couldn't make enough money to support his family. During 1962
1962 in sports
1962 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-American football:* AFL Championship – Dallas Texans won 20-17 over the Houston Oilers in double overtime* NFL Championship – Green Bay Packers won 16-7 over the New York Giants...
, Knievel broke his collarbone and shoulder in a motocross accident. The doctors said he couldn't race for at least six months. To help support his family, he switched careers and sold insurance for the Combined Insurance Company of America, working for W. Clement Stone
W. Clement Stone
William Clement Stone was a businessman, philanthropist and New Thought self-help book author.-Early life and work:...
. Stone suggested that Knievel read Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude, a book that Stone wrote with Napoleon Hill
Napoleon Hill
Napoleon Hill was an American author who was one of the earliest producers of the modern genre of personal-success literature. He is widely considered to be one of the great writers on success...
. Knievel credited much of his success to Stone and his book.
Knievel was successful as an insurance salesman (even selling insurance policies to several institutionalized mental patients) and wanted recognition for his efforts. When the company refused to promote him to vice-president after a few months on the job he quit. Wanting a new start away from Butte, Knievel moved his family to Moses Lake, Washington
Moses Lake, Washington
Moses Lake is a city in Grant County, Washington, United States. The population was 20,366 as of the 2010 census. Moses Lake is the largest city in Grant County.-Background:...
. There, he opened a Honda
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than...
motorcycle dealership and promoted motocross racing. During the early 1960s, it was difficult to promote Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese imports. People still considered them inferior to American built motorcycles, and there was lingering resentment from World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, which had ended less than 20 years earlier. Once, Knievel offered a $100 discount to anybody who could beat him at arm wrestling
Arm wrestling
Arm wrestling is a sport with two participants. Each participant places one arm on a surface with their elbows bent and touching the surface, and they grip each other's hand...
. Despite his best efforts the business eventually had to be closed.
After the closure of the Moses Lake Honda dealership, Knievel went to work for Don Pomeroy at his motorcycle shop in Sunnyside, Washington
Sunnyside, Washington
Sunnyside is a city in Yakima County, Washington, United States. As of the 2010 Census the population was 15,858.-History:On September 16, 1902, residents voted 42 to one to incorporate as the town of Sunnyside. By state law a town needed to have 300 citizens in order to legally incorporate...
. It is here where Jim Pomeroy
Jim Pomeroy
Jim Pomeroy was a professional motocross racer. In 1973, he became the first American rider to win a FIM world championship motocross race when he rode a Bultaco Pursang to victory in the 1973 250cc Spanish motocross Grand Prix...
, a well known motocross racer taught Knievel how to do a "wheelie" and ride while standing on the seat of the bike.
Daredevil
While trying to support his family, Knievel recalled the Joie ChitwoodJoie Chitwood
George Rice "Joie" Chitwood was an American racecar driver and businessman. He is best known as a daredevil in the Joie Chitwood Thrill Show....
show he saw as a boy and decided that he could do something similar using a motorcycle. Promoting the show himself, Knievel rented the venue, wrote the press releases, set up the show, sold the tickets and served as his own master of ceremonies. After enticing the small crowd with a few wheelies, he proceeded to jump a twenty-foot-long box of rattlesnakes and two mountain lions. Despite landing short and having his back wheel hit the box containing the rattlesnakes, Knievel managed to land safely.
Knievel realized to make any amount of real money he would need to hire more performers, stunt coordinators and other personnel so that he could concentrate on the jumps. With little money, he went looking for a sponsor and found one in Bob Blair, owner of ZDS Motors, Inc., the West coast distributor for Berliner Motor Corporation
Berliner Motor Corporation
Berliner Motor Corporation was the US distributor from the 1950s through the 1980s for several European motorcycle marques, including Ducati, J-Be, Matchless, Moto Guzzi, Norton, Sachs and Zündapp, as well as selling Metzeler tires...
, a distributor for Norton Motorcycles. Blair offered to provide the needed motorcycles, but he wanted the name changed from the Bobby Knievel and His Motorcycle Daredevils Thrill Show to Evil Knievel and His Motorcycle Daredevils. Knievel didn't want his image to be that of a Hells Angels
Hells Angels
The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is a worldwide one-percenter motorcycle gang and organized crime syndicate whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporation. Their primary motto...
rider, so he convinced Blair to allow him to use Evel instead of Evil.
The debut of Knievel and his daredevils was on January 3, 1966, at the National Date Festival in Indio, California
Indio, California
Indio is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, located in the Coachella Valley of Southern California's Colorado Desert region. It lies east of Palm Springs, east of Riverside, and east of Los Angeles. It is about north of Mexicali, Baja California on the U.S.-Mexican border...
. The show was a huge success. Knievel received several offers to host the show after their first performance. The second booking was in Hemet, California
Hemet, California
Hemet is a city in the San Jacinto Valley in Riverside County, California, United States. It covers a total area of , about half of the valley, which it shares with the neighboring city of San Jacinto. The population was 78,657 at the 2010 census....
, but was canceled due to rain. The next performance was on February 10, in Barstow, California
Barstow, California
Barstow is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The population was 22,639 at the 2010 census, up from 21,119 at the 2000 census. Barstow is located north of San Bernardino....
. During the performance, Knievel attempted a new stunt where he would jump, spread eagle
Spreadeagle (position)
The spread eagle is the position in which a person has his or her arms outstretched and legs apart, figuratively resembling an eagle with wings spread. It is a style that appears commonly in nature and geometry. In human style it is represented by the letter "X".A spreadeagle is a common position...
, over a speeding motorcycle. Knievel jumped too late and the motorcycle hit him in the groin
Groin
In human anatomy, the groin areas are the two creases at the junction of the torso with the legs, on either side of the pubic area. This is also known as the medial compartment of the thigh. A pulled groin muscle usually refers to a painful injury sustained by straining the hip adductor muscles...
, tossing him fifteen feet into the air. He was placed in the hospital as a result of his injuries. When released, he returned to Barstow to finish the performance he had started almost a month earlier.
Knievel's daredevil show broke up after the Barstow performance because injuries prevented him from performing. After recovering, Knievel started traveling from small town to small town as a solo act. To get ahead of other motorcycle stunt people who were jumping animals or pools of water, Knievel started jumping cars. He began adding more and more cars to his jumps when he would return to the same venue to get people to come out and see him again. Knievel hadn't had a serious injury since the Barstow performance, but on June 19 in Missoula, Montana
Missoula, Montana
Missoula is a city located in western Montana and is the county seat of Missoula County. The 2010 Census put the population of Missoula at 66,788 and the population of Missoula County at 109,299. Missoula is the principal city of the Missoula Metropolitan Area...
, he attempted to jump twelve cars and a cargo van. The distance he had for takeoff didn't allow him to get up enough speed. His back wheel hit the top of the van while his front wheel hit the top of the landing ramp. Knievel ended up with a severely broken arm and several broken ribs. The crash and subsequent stay in the hospital were a publicity windfall.
With each successful jump, the public wanted him to jump one more car. On May 30, 1967, Knievel successfully cleared sixteen cars in Gardena, California
Gardena, California
Gardena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 58,829 at the 2010 census, up from 57,746 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Gardena is located at ....
. Then he attempted the same jump on July 28, 1967, in Graham, Washington
Graham, Washington
Graham is a census-designated place in Pierce County, Washington, United States. The population was 8,739 at the 2000 census and grew to 23,491 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Graham is located at ....
, where he had his next serious crash. Landing his cycle on a panel truck that was the last vehicle, Knievel was thrown from his bike. This time he suffered a serious concussion. After a month, he recovered and returned to Graham on August 18 to finish the show; but the result was the same, only this time the injuries were more serious. Again coming up short, Knievel crashed, breaking his left wrist, right knee and two ribs.
Knievel finally received some national exposure when actor Joey Bishop
Joey Bishop
Joey Bishop was an American entertainer who was perhaps best known for being a member of the "Rat Pack" with Frank Sinatra, Peter Lawford, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Dean Martin...
had him on as a guest of The Joey Bishop Show
The Joey Bishop Show (talk show)
The Joey Bishop Show is an American talk show which was first broadcast on ABC on April 17, 1967, hosted by Joey Bishop and featuring Regis Philbin in his first concentrated national television exposure, as Bishop's sidekick/announcer...
. All the attention not only brought larger paydays, but also female admirers.
Caesars Palace
While in Las VegasLas Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
, to watch Dick Tiger
Dick Tiger
Dick Tiger CBE was a boxer from Ubahu village, Amaigbo, Nigeria, who emigrated to Liverpool and later to the United States of America. Tiger was a member of the Igbo ethnic group...
successfully defend his WBA and WBC light heavyweight titles at the Las Vegas Convention Center
Las Vegas Convention Center
The Las Vegas Convention Center is owned and operated by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority in Las Vegas, Nevada....
on November 17, 1967, Knievel first saw the fountains at Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, an unincorporated township in Clark County, Nevada, United States in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Caesars Palace is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment Corp....
and decided to jump them. To get an audience with the casino's CEO Jay Sarno
Jay Sarno
Jay Sarno was a Las Vegas business entrepreneur who owned several high-profile hotels. He was the creator of both the Caesars Palace hotel and Circus Circus, and many credit him with being the father of today's more family-oriented Las Vegas...
, Knievel created a fictitious corporation called Evel Knievel Enterprises and three fictitious lawyers to make phone calls to Sarno. Knievel also placed phone calls to Sarno claiming to be from ABC-TV
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
and Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
inquiring about the jump. Sarno finally agreed to meet Knievel and the deal was set for Knievel to jump the fountains on December 31, 1967. After the deal was set, Knievel tried to get ABC to air the event live on Wide World of Sports. ABC declined, but said that if Knievel had the jump filmed and it was as spectacular as he said it would be, they would consider using it later.
Knievel used his own money to have actor/director John Derek
John Derek
John Derek was an American actor, director and photographer.-Career:His matinee-idol good looks quickly got him supporting roles, most notably as Broderick Crawford's son in All the King's Men , but he also enjoyed leads such as "Nick Romano" in Knock on Any Door opposite Humphrey Bogart John...
produce a film of the Caesars' jump. To keep costs low, Derek used his then-wife Linda Evans
Linda Evans
Linda Evans is an American actress. She is known primarily for her roles on television, and rose to fame playing Audra Barkley in the 1960s Western TV series, The Big Valley...
as one of the camera operators. It was Evans who filmed Knievel's famous landing. On the morning of the jump, Knievel stopped in the casino
Casino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...
and placed his last 100 dollars on the blackjack
Blackjack
Blackjack, also known as Twenty-one or Vingt-et-un , is the most widely played casino banking game in the world...
table (which he lost), stopped by the bar and had a shot of Wild Turkey
Wild Turkey (bourbon)
Wild Turkey is a brand of Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey distilled and bottled by the Austin, Nichols division of Campari Group. Its nicknames include "The Dirty Bird", "Gobble Gobble", "Bombed Tom", "Thunder Chicken", "Boat Gas", "Whiskey Tango", "The Screamin' Eagle", and "The Kickin’...
and then headed outside where he was joined by several members of the Caesars staff, as well as two showgirl
Showgirl
A showgirl is a dancer or performer in a stage entertainment show. Showgirl is also often used as a term for a promotional model in trade fairs and car shows, etc...
s. After doing his normal pre-jump show and a few warm up approaches, Knievel began his real approach. When he hit the takeoff ramp, he felt the motorcycle unexpectedly decelerate. The sudden loss of power on the takeoff caused Knievel to come up short and land on the safety ramp which was supported by a van. This caused the handlebars to be ripped out of his hands as he tumbled over them onto the pavement where he skidded into the Dunes
Dunes (hotel and casino)
The Dunes Hotel was a Paradise, Nevada, hotel and casino that operated from May 23, 1955 to January 26, 1993, and was the tenth resort to open on the Las Vegas Strip. The Bellagio now stands on the former grounds.-History:...
parking lot. As a result of the crash, Knievel suffered a crushed pelvis and femur, fractures to his hip, wrist and both ankles and a concussion that kept him in a coma
Coma
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
for 29 days.
The Caesars Palace crash would represent Knievel's longest attempted motorcycle jump at 141 feet. After his crash and recovery Knievel was more famous than ever. ABC-TV bought the rights to the film of the jump paying far more than they originally would have had they televised the original jump live. Ironically, when Knievel finally achieved the fame and possible fortune that he always wanted, his doctors were telling him that he might never walk without the aid of crutches, let alone ride and jump motorcycles.
Insurance
Before the Caesars' jump Knievel asked his friend Matt Tonning, a Combined Insurance sales agent, to sell him ten accident policies. Combined's underwriting policies allowed for only one of these policies be written, since the policy covered any accident and was non-cancelable for the life of the insured. Tonning agreed and was fired by Combined when Knievel filed the claims on all ten. Upon hearing that Tonning had been fired Knievel contacted Combined's Vice President Matt Walsh. He agreed to return nine of the policies and be paid full benefits on only one, if Combined allowed Tonning to return to work. Walsh agreed and Tonning was reinstated.In a 1971 interview with Dick Cavett
Dick Cavett
Richard Alva "Dick" Cavett is a former American television talk show host known for his conversational style and in-depth discussion of issues...
, Knievel stated that he was uninsurable following the Caesars' crash. Knievel said he was turned down 37 times from Lloyds of London, stating, "I have trouble getting life insurance, accident insurance, hospitalization and even insurance for my automobile…Lloyds of London has rejected me 37 times so if you hear the rumor that they insure anybody, don’t pay too much attention to it." Four years later, a clause in Knievel's contract to jump 14-buses at Kings Island
Kings Island
Kings Island is a amusement park located northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio. Opened in 1972 by Taft Broadcasting Company and now owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, Kings Island is the most visited seasonal amusement park in the U.S...
required a one-day $1,000,000 liability insurance to the amusement park. Lloyds of London offered the liability insurance for what was called a "laughable $17,500". Knievel eventually paid $2,500 to a state-side insurance company.
Jumps and records
To keep his name in the news, Knievel started describing his biggest stunt ever, a motorcycle jump across the Grand CanyonGrand Canyon
The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, the 15th national park in the United States...
. Just five months after his near fatal crash, Knievel performed another jump. On May 25, 1968, in Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale is a city in the eastern part of Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2010 the population of the city was 217,385...
, Knievel crashed while attempting to jump fifteen Ford Mustang
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. It was initially based on the second generation North American Ford Falcon, a compact car. Introduced early on April 17, 1964, as a "1964½" model, the 1965 Mustang was the automaker's most successful launch since the Model A...
s. Knievel ended up breaking his right leg and foot as a result of the crash.
On August 3, 1968, Knievel returned to jumping, making more money than ever before. He was earning approximately $25,000 per performance, and he was making successful jumps almost weekly until October 13, in Carson City, Nevada
Carson City, Nevada
The Consolidated Municipality of Carson City is the capital of the state of Nevada. The words Consolidated Municipality refer to a series of changes in 1969 which abolished Ormsby County and merged all the settlements contained within its borders into Carson City. Since that time Carson City has...
. While trying to stick the landing, he lost control of the bike and crashed again, breaking his hip once more.
By 1971, Knievel realized that the United States government would never allow him to jump the Grand Canyon. To keep his fans interested, Knievel considered several other stunts that might match the publicity that would have been generated by jumping the canyon; ideas included: jumping across the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
, jumping from one skyscraper to another in New York City and jumping over 13 cars inside the Houston Astrodome. While flying back to Butte from a performance tour, Knievel looked out the window and saw Snake River Canyon. After finding a location near Twin Falls, Idaho, that was both wide enough, deep enough and on private property, Knievel leased 300 acres (1.2 km²) for $35,000 to stage his jump. He set the date for Labor Day
Labor Day
Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers.-History:...
(September 4), 1972.
On January 7 and January 8, 1971, Knievel set the record by selling over 100,000 tickets to back-to-back performances at the Houston Astrodome. On February 28, he set a new world record by jumping 19 cars with his Harley-Davidson XR-750
Harley-Davidson XR-750
The XR-750 is a Harley-Davidson racing motorcycle made since 1970, primarily for dirt track racing, but also for road racing in the XRTT variant...
at the Ontario Motor Speedway
Ontario Motor Speedway
The Ontario Motor Speedway, located in Ontario, California, east of Los Angeles, was the first and only automobile racing facility built to accommodate major races sanctioned by all of the four dominant racing sanctioning bodies: IndyCar Series and USAC for open-wheel oval car races; NASCAR for a ...
in Ontario, California
Ontario, California
Ontario is a city located in San Bernardino County, California, United States, 35 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. Located in the western part of the Inland Empire region, it lies just east of the Los Angeles county line and is part of the Greater Los Angeles Area...
. The 19 car jump was also filmed for the movie, Evel Knievel
Evel Knievel (film)
Evel Knievel was a 1971 motion picture starring George Hamilton as motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel.- Story :The story is a biography of the famed motorcycle daredevil, much of which was filmed in his home town of Butte, Montana. The film depicts Knievel reflecting on major events in his life,...
. Knievel held the record for 27 years until Bubba Blackwell
Bubba Blackwell
Bubba Blackwell is a stunt performer and motorcycle jumping world record holder who was sponsored by and promoted Buell Motorcycle Company...
jumped 20 cars in 1998 with an XR-750.
On May 10, Knievel crashed while attempting to jump 13 Pepsi delivery trucks. His approach was complicated by the fact that he had to start on pavement, cut across grass, and then return to pavement. His lack of speed caused the motorcycle to come down front wheel first. He managed to hold on until the cycle hit the base of the ramp. After being thrown off he skidded for 50 feet (15.2 m). Knievel broke his collarbone, suffered a compound fracture of his right arm and broke both legs.
On March 3, 1972, at the Cow Palace
Cow Palace
Cow Palace is an indoor arena, in Daly City, California, situated on the city's border with neighboring San Francisco, notable as a sporting arena.-History:...
in Daly City, California
Daly City, California
Daly City is the largest city in San Mateo County, California, United States, with a 2010 population of 101,123. Located immediately south of San Francisco, it is named in honor of businessman and landowner John Daly.-History:...
, after making a successful jump, he tried to come to a quick stop because of a short landing area. Knievel suffered a broken back and a concussion after getting thrown off and run over by his motorcycle, a Harley-Davidson. Knievel returned to jumping in November, 1973, where he successfully jumped over 50 stacked cars at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is a large outdoor sports stadium in the University Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, at Exposition Park, that is home to the Pacific-12 Conference's University of Southern California Trojans football team...
. For 35 years, Knievel held the record for successfully jumping the most stacked cars on a Harley-Davidson XR-750 (the record was broken in October 2008. His historic XR-750 is now part of the collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History
National Museum of American History
The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific and military history. Among the items on display are the original Star-Spangled Banner and Archie Bunker's...
. Made of steel, aluminum and fiberglass, the customized motorcycle weighs about 300 pounds.
The Grand Canyon jump
Although Knievel never attempted to jump the Grand CanyonGrand Canyon
The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, the 15th national park in the United States...
, rumors of the Canyon jump were started by Knievel himself in 1968 following the Caesars Palace crash. During a 1968 interview, Knievel stated, "I don't care if they say, 'Look, kid, you're going to drive that thing off the edge of the Canyon and die,' I'm going to do it. I want to be the first. If they'd let me go to the moon, I'd crawl all the way to Cape Kennedy just to do it. I'd like to go to the moon, but I don't want to be the second man to go there." For the next several years, Knievel would negotiate with the U.S. government to secure a jumping site and develop various concept bikes to make the jump. However, the U.S. Department of Interior denied him airspace over the Grand Canyon. Therefore, in 1971, Knievel switched his attention to the Snake River Canyon.
In the movie, Evel Knievel, George Hamilton (as Knievel) alludes to the Canyon jump in the final scene of the movie. One of the common movie posters for the 1971 film depicts Knievel jumping his motorcycle off a (likely) Grand Canyon cliff. In 1999, Knievel's son, Robbie
Robbie Knievel
Robert Edward "Robbie" Knievel is an American daredevil and son of stunt performer Evel Knievel.-Family:...
, jumped a portion of the Grand Canyon owned by the Hualapai
Hualapai
The Hualapai or Walapai are a tribe of Native Americans who live in the mountains of northwestern Arizona, United States. The name is derived from "hwa:l," the Hualapai word for ponderosa pine, "Hualapai" meaning "people of the ponderosa pine"...
Indian Reservation.
Snake River Canyon
ABC Sports was unwilling to pay the price Knievel wanted for the Snake River Canyon jump, so he ended up hiring Bob Arum's company, Top Rank Productions, to put the event on closed circuit television and broadcast to movie theaters. Then WWF Promoters Don E. BrankerDon E. Branker
-Early life:Branker grew up in Fresno. His father and uncle owned and operated Branker Brothers Cattle Co., one of the larger ranching operations in the San Joaquin Valley, until the 1960s when land buyouts by the oil companies cut down on the amount of grazing acreage.The family moved to Los...
and Vince McMahon, Sr., were later said to be silent promoters of this event. Arum partnered with Invest West Sports, Shelly Saltman
Shelly Saltman
Sheldon “Shelly” Arthur Saltman is a promoter of major sports and entertainment events including the worldwide promotion of the Muhammad Ali / Joe Frazier heavyweight championship boxing matches, creating the Andy Williams San Diego Golf Classic, helping to arrange the independent NFL Players...
's company, to secure from Invest West Sports two things: 1.) the necessary financing for the jump and 2.) the services of Saltman, long recognized as one of America's premier public relations and promotion men, to do publicity so that Knievel could concentrate on his jumps. Knievel then hired subcontractor
North American Aviation
North American Aviation was a major US aerospace manufacturer, responsible for a number of historic aircraft, including the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F-86 Sabre jet fighter, the X-15 rocket plane, and the XB-70, as well as Apollo Command and Service...
and aeronautical engineer Doug Malewicki to build him a rocket-powered cycle that he could use to jump across the Snake River
Snake River
The Snake is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean...
, to be called the X-1 Skycycle. Doug's creation was powered by a steam engine built by former Aerojet engineer Robert Truax
Robert Truax
Captain Robert C. Truax was a rocket engineer in the United States Navy, and companies such as Aerojet and Truax Engineering, which he founded...
. On April 15, 1972 the X-1 was launched to test the feasibility of the launching ramp. The decision was then made to have Truax build the Skycycle X-2
Skycycle X-2
Skycycle X-2 was a steam-powered rocket. An earlier prototype, the Skycycle X-1 designed by Doug Malewicki, and former USN engineer Robert Truax superficially resembled a motorcycle. The Skycycle X-2 was designed by Bob Truax, and ridden by Evel Knievel in his attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon...
and have it take off and fly more like a rocket than a motorcycle.
The launch at Snake River Canyon (42.59713°N 114.42292°W) was on September 8, 1974, at 3:36 p.m. MDT. The steam that powered the engine was superheated to a temperature of 500 °F (260 °C). Upon take-off, the drogue parachute deployed. The deployed chute caused enough drag that even though the skycycle made it all the way across the canyon to the north rim, the prevailing winds caused it to drift back south, into the canyon. By the time it hit the bottom of the canyon, it landed only a few feet from the water on the same side of the canyon it had been launched from. If he had landed in the water, Knievel would have drowned due to a jumpsuit/harness malfunction which kept him strapped in the vehicle. Knievel survived the jump with only minor injuries.
Wembley jump
After the Snake River jump, Knievel returned to motorcycle jumping with ABC Wide World of Sports televising several jumps. On May 26, 1975, in front of 90,000 people at Wembley Stadium in London, Knievel crashed while trying to land a jump over thirteen redundant single-deck AEC Merlin buses (the term "London Buses" used in earlier publicity had led to the belief that the attempt was to be made over the higher and more traditional RoutemasterRoutemaster
The AEC Routemaster is a model of double-decker bus that was built by Associated Equipment Company in 1954 and produced until 1968. Primarily front-engined, rear open-platform buses, a small number of variants were produced with doors and/or front entrances...
double-deck type). After the crash, despite breaking his pelvis, Knievel addressed the audience and announced his retirement by stating "ladies and gentlemen of this wonderful country, I have to tell you that you are the last people in the world who will see me jump. Because I will never, ever, ever jump again. I’m through." Near shock and not yielding to Frank Gifford
Frank Gifford
Francis Newton "Frank" Gifford is a Hall of Fame former American football player and American sportscaster.-Early life:Gifford was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of Lola Mae and Weldon Gifford, an oil driller....
's (of ABC Wide World of Sports) plea to use a stretcher
Stretcher
A stretcher is a medical device used to carry casualties or an incapacitated person from one place to another. It is a simple type of litter, and still called by that name in some cases....
, Knievel walked off the Wembley field stating, "I came in walking, I went out walking!"
Kings Island jump
After recuperating, Knievel decided that he had spoken too soon, and that he would continue jumping. On October 25, 1975, Knievel successfully jumped fourteen GreyhoundGreyhound Lines
Greyhound Lines, Inc., based in Dallas, Texas, is an intercity common carrier of passengers by bus serving over 3,700 destinations in the United States, Canada and Mexico, operating under the well-known logo of a leaping greyhound. It was founded in Hibbing, Minnesota, USA, in 1914 and...
buses at the Kings Island
Kings Island
Kings Island is a amusement park located northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio. Opened in 1972 by Taft Broadcasting Company and now owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, Kings Island is the most visited seasonal amusement park in the U.S...
theme park in Ohio. Although Knievel landed on the safety deck above the 14th bus, his landing was successful and he held the record for jumping the most buses on a Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson , often abbreviated H-D or Harley, is an American motorcycle manufacturer. Founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during the first decade of the 20th century, it was one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression...
for 24 years (until broken by Bubba Blackwell
Bubba Blackwell
Bubba Blackwell is a stunt performer and motorcycle jumping world record holder who was sponsored by and promoted Buell Motorcycle Company...
in late 1999). The Kings Island event scored the highest viewer ratings in the history of ABC's Wide World of Sports and would serve as Knievel's longest successful jump at 133 feet (although the Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, an unincorporated township in Clark County, Nevada, United States in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Caesars Palace is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment Corp....
jump was longer, it ended in a crash). After the Kings Island jump, Knievel again announced his retirement.
Again, his retirement was short lived and Knievel continued to jump. However, after the lengthy Kings Island jump, Knievel limited the remainder of his career jumps to shorter and more attainable lengths. Evel jumped on October 31, 1976, at the Seattle Kingdome. He only jumped seven Greyhound Buses but it was a success. Despite the crowd's pleasure, Knievel felt that it was not his best jump, and apologized to the crowd.
Shark jump
In the winter of 1976, Knievel was scheduled for a major jump in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. The jump was inspired by the film, Jaws
Jaws (film)
Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
. Knievel was scheduled to jump a tank full of live sharks and would be televised live nationally. However, during his rehearsal, Knievel lost control of the motorcycle and crashed into a cameraman. Although Knievel broke his arms, he was more distraught over a permanent injury his accident caused to the cameraman (who lost his eye). The footage of this crash was so upsetting to Knievel, that he did not show the clip for 19 years until the documentary, Absolute Evel: The Evel Knievel Story.
After the failed shark jump
Jump the Shark
"Jump the Shark" is the 197th episode and the ninth season's fifteenth episode of the science fiction television series The X-Files. The episode first aired in the United States and Canada on April 21, 2002 on Fox, and subsequently aired in the United Kingdom. It was written by executive producers...
, Knievel retired from major performances and limited his appearances to smaller venues to help launch the career of his son, Robbie Knievel
Robbie Knievel
Robert Edward "Robbie" Knievel is an American daredevil and son of stunt performer Evel Knievel.-Family:...
. His last stunt show, not including a jump, took place in March 1980 in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
. However, Knievel would officially finish his career as a daredevil as a touring "companion" of his son, Robbie, limiting his performance to speaking only, rather than stunt riding. His last appearance with Robbie (on tour) was in March 1981 in Hollywood, Florida
Hollywood, Florida
-Demographics:As of 2000, there were 59,673 households out of which 24.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.5% were married couples living together, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.2% were non-families. 34.4% of all households were made up of...
.
The Last Gladiator
The Last Gladiator is an honorific title or nickname for Evel Knievel. The term Last Gladiator was coined and attributed to Knievel circa 1971. The term refers to the Roman gladiatorGladiator
A gladiator was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their legal and social standing and their lives by appearing in the...
, who entered an arena to fight numerous foes to which he may succumb death with skill and bravery.
The term was made popular in the 1971 eponymous movie
Evel Knievel (film)
Evel Knievel was a 1971 motion picture starring George Hamilton as motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel.- Story :The story is a biography of the famed motorcycle daredevil, much of which was filmed in his home town of Butte, Montana. The film depicts Knievel reflecting on major events in his life,...
starring George Hamilton
George Hamilton (actor)
George Stevens Hamilton is an American film and television actor.-Early life:Hamilton was the youngest son of bandleader George "Spike" Hamilton and his first wife, Ann Stevens . He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and lived in Blytheville, Arkansas...
. In the movie, Hamilton (as Knievel) states, "I am the last gladiator in the new Rome. I go into the arena and I compete against destruction and I win. And next week, I go out there and I do it again."
Evel Knievel's 1988 self-produced documentary was entitled, "Last of the Gladiators".
Motorcycles
Knievel briefly used a Honda 350cc motorcycle, using it to jump a crate of rattlesnakes and two mountain lions, which was his first known jump. Knievel then used a Norton Motorcycle Company 750cc. He used the Norton for only one year during 1966. Between 1967 and 1968, Knievel jumped using the Triumph Bonneville T120 (with a 650cc engine). Knievel used the Triumph at the Caesars Palace crash on New Year's Eve 1967. When Knievel returned to jumping after the crash, he used Triumph for the remainder of 1968.Between December 1969 and April 1970, Knievel used the Laverda
Laverda
Laverda was an Italian manufacturer of high performance motorcycles. The motorcycles in their day gained a reputation for being robust and innovative....
American Eagle 750cc motorcycle. On December 12, 1970, Knievel would switch to the Harley-Davidson XR-750
Harley-Davidson XR-750
The XR-750 is a Harley-Davidson racing motorcycle made since 1970, primarily for dirt track racing, but also for road racing in the XRTT variant...
, the motorcycle with which he is best known for jumping. Knievel would use the XR-750 in association with Harley-Davidson until 1977. However, after his 1977 conviction for the assault of Shelly Saltman, Harley-Davidson withdrew their sponsorship of Knievel.
On September 8, 1974, Knievel attempted to jump the Snake River Canyon on a rocket propelled motorcycle designed by former NASA engineer Robert Truax dubbed the Skycycle X-2
Skycycle X-2
Skycycle X-2 was a steam-powered rocket. An earlier prototype, the Skycycle X-1 designed by Doug Malewicki, and former USN engineer Robert Truax superficially resembled a motorcycle. The Skycycle X-2 was designed by Bob Truax, and ridden by Evel Knievel in his attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon...
. The State of Idaho registered the X-2 as an airplane rather than a motorcycle.
At the tail end of his career, while helping launch the career of his son, Robbie Knievel
Robbie Knievel
Robert Edward "Robbie" Knievel is an American daredevil and son of stunt performer Evel Knievel.-Family:...
, Knievel returned to the Triumph T120. However, he only performed wheelies and did not jump after retiring the XR-750.
In 1997, Knievel signed with the California Motorcycle Company
California Motorcycle Company
The California Motorcycle Company was a motorcycle company that later became incorporated into the modern incarnation of the Indian Company. They produced a number of made-to-order motorcycle designs based on Harley Davidson designs and aesthetics....
to release a limited Evel Knievel Motorcycle. However, the motorcycle was not built to jump, but was rather a V-twin cruiser motorcycle intended to compete with Harley-Davidson street bikes. Knievel promoted the motorcycle at his various public appearances. After the company closed in 2003, Knievel returned to riding modern street Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson , often abbreviated H-D or Harley, is an American motorcycle manufacturer. Founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during the first decade of the 20th century, it was one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression...
motorcycles at his public appearances.
Evel's son, Robbie Knievel
Robbie Knievel
Robert Edward "Robbie" Knievel is an American daredevil and son of stunt performer Evel Knievel.-Family:...
, sold limited-edition motorcycles from his company, Knievel Motorcycles Manufacturing Inc. Although two of the motorcycles refer to Evel (the Legend Series Evel Commemorative and the Snake River Canyon motorcycle), Evel did not ride Robbie's bikes.
Leather jumpsuits
Throughout his daredevil career, Knievel was known for his sensational leather jumpsuits with comparisons to the jumpsuits worn by Elvis PresleyElvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
. When Knievel began jumping, he used a black and yellow jumpsuit. Shortly therefore, when he switched to the Triumph motorcycle, his jumpsuit changed to a white suit with stripes down the legs and sleeves. Two variations of the white suit appeared (one with three stars across the chest and one with the three stars on his right chest). The later was worn at the Caesars Palace jump.
When Knievel switched to the Laverda motorcycle in 1969, he switched his leathers to a white jumpsuit with Confederate stars on blue stripes. The Confederate stars jumpsuit was used in the beginning and ending of the 1971 film, Evel Knievel
Evel Knievel (film)
Evel Knievel was a 1971 motion picture starring George Hamilton as motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel.- Story :The story is a biography of the famed motorcycle daredevil, much of which was filmed in his home town of Butte, Montana. The film depicts Knievel reflecting on major events in his life,...
. Following the Confederate stars, Knievel adjusted the blue stripes to a V-shape (the first version of the V-shape was also used in the 1971 film's final jump). For the remainder of his career, variances of the V-shaped white-starred jumpsuit would be a constant, including a special nylon/canvass flightsuit that matched his white leathers for the X-2
Skycycle X-2
Skycycle X-2 was a steam-powered rocket. An earlier prototype, the Skycycle X-1 designed by Doug Malewicki, and former USN engineer Robert Truax superficially resembled a motorcycle. The Skycycle X-2 was designed by Bob Truax, and ridden by Evel Knievel in his attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon...
jump. Each variance would become more elaborate, including the addition of the red-white-blue cape and the Elvis-styled belt-buckled with his initials “EK”. In 1975, Knievel premiered the blue leathers with red stars on the white stripes for the Wembley jump. Both the blue leathers and white leathers were featured in Viva Knievel.
Variances
- Black and yellow leathers (1965)
- White leathers with three stars on right chest and stripes down leg (1966)
- White leathers with three stars on center chest and stripes down leg (1967)
- White leathers with Confederate stars on blue stripes (1969–1971)
- White nylon/canvass flightsuit with V-stars on blue stripes for X-2 (1972)
- White leathers with V-stars on blue stripes (introduction of cape and belt buckle) (1972–1981)
- Blue leathers with V-stars on white stripes (1975–1977)
Core values
One of Evel's qualities was that he had great pride in his core values. Throughout his career (and later life), he would repeatedly talk about the importance of "keeping his word". He stated that although he knew he may not successfully make a jump or even survive the canyon jump, he followed through with each stunt because he gave his word that he would. Prior to the canyon jump, Knievel stated, "If someone says to you, 'that guy should have never jumped the canyon. You knew if he did, that he'd lose his life and that he was crazy.' Do me a favor. Tell him that you saw me here and regardless of what I was, that you knew me, and that I kept my word."In the documentary Last of the Gladiators, Knievel discussed the crash of a 1970 Pepsi-Cola sponsored jump in Yakima, Washington
Yakima, Washington
Yakima is an American city southeast of Mount Rainier National Park and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, United States, and the eighth largest city by population in the state itself. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 91,196 and a metropolitan population of...
. Knievel knew the jump was questionable, but stated, "I went ahead and did it anyway. When you give your word to somebody that you're going to do something, you've gotta do it." In the 1971 biopic, George Hamilton
George Hamilton (actor)
George Stevens Hamilton is an American film and television actor.-Early life:Hamilton was the youngest son of bandleader George "Spike" Hamilton and his first wife, Ann Stevens . He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and lived in Blytheville, Arkansas...
(as Evel) emphasizes in the opening monologue that a man does not go back on his word.
Knievel would regularly share his anti-drug message, as it was another one of his core values. Knievel would preach an anti-drug message to children and adults before each of his stunts. One organization that Knievel regularly slammed for being drug dealers was the Hells Angels
Hells Angels
The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is a worldwide one-percenter motorcycle gang and organized crime syndicate whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporation. Their primary motto...
. A near-riot erupted on March 3, 1971, at the Cow Palace
Cow Palace
Cow Palace is an indoor arena, in Daly City, California, situated on the city's border with neighboring San Francisco, notable as a sporting arena.-History:...
when a tire-iron (or coke can according to the Hells Angels) was thrown at Knievel during his stunt show, and Knievel and a majority of the spectators fought back, sending three of the fifteen Hells Angels to the hospital. The plot to his only motion picture as an actor, Viva Knievel, centers around Evel foiling the attempts of drug lords smuggling narcotics into America from Mexico.
Motorcycle helmet safety
Knievel was a proponent of motorcycle helmet safety. He constantly encouraged his fans to wear motorcycle helmetMotorcycle helmet
A motorcycle helmet is a type of protective headgear used by motorcycle riders. The primary goal of a motorcycle helmet is motorcycle safety - to protect the rider's head during impact, thus preventing or reducing head injury or saving the rider's life...
s. The Bell Magnum helmet used in the Caesars' Palace jump is credited for saving Knievel's life after he fell off the motorcycle and hit his head on the ground (following the Caesars' Palace crash, each of Knievel's full-face helmets had the slogan, "Color Me Lucky"). As an ardent supporter of helmet use, Knievel once offered a cash reward for anyone who witnessed him stunting on a motorcycle without a helmet.
In 1987, Knievel supported a mandatory helmet bill in the State of California. During the Assembly Transportation Committee meeting, Knievel was introduced as "the best walking commercial for a helmet law".
Family
Knievel was married twice. He and his first wife, Linda, were married for 38 years. During their marriage, the couple had four children. Of the two boys and two girls, the oldest child Kelly and second-born Robbie are the boys and Tracey and youngest child Alicia are the girls. Throughout Kelly's and Robbie's adolescence, the boys performed at Knievel's stunt shows. Robbie KnievelRobbie Knievel
Robert Edward "Robbie" Knievel is an American daredevil and son of stunt performer Evel Knievel.-Family:...
continued into adulthood to perform as a professional motorcycle daredevil. After Evel's death, Kelly has overseen the Knievel legacy, including developing Knievel-related products and assisting Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson , often abbreviated H-D or Harley, is an American motorcycle manufacturer. Founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during the first decade of the 20th century, it was one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression...
develop a museum exhibit. Knievel's courtship and marriage to Linda was the theme of the 1971 George Hamilton movie, Evel Knievel
Evel Knievel (film)
Evel Knievel was a 1971 motion picture starring George Hamilton as motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel.- Story :The story is a biography of the famed motorcycle daredevil, much of which was filmed in his home town of Butte, Montana. The film depicts Knievel reflecting on major events in his life,...
. Linda and Evel divorced in 1997.
In 1999, Knievel married his girlfriend, Krystal Kennedy, whom he began dating in 1992. The marriage was held at Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, an unincorporated township in Clark County, Nevada, United States in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Caesars Palace is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment Corp....
in Las Vegas. The couple were married for two years, divorcing in 2001. Following the divorce, Krystal Knievel was granted a restraining order against him. However, Krystal and Evel would work out their differences, living together until Knievel's death. According to the investment magazine, Registered Rep., Knievel left his entire estate to Krystal.
Marketing the image
Knievel sought to make more money from his image. He was no longer satisfied with just receiving free motorcycles to jump with. Knievel wanted to be paid to use and promote a company's brand of motorcycles. After Triumph, the motorcycle company he had been jumping with, refused to meet his demands, Knievel started to propose the idea to other manufacturers. American Eagle MotorcyclesLaverda
Laverda was an Italian manufacturer of high performance motorcycles. The motorcycles in their day gained a reputation for being robust and innovative....
was the first company to sign Knievel to an endorsement deal. At approximately the same time, Fanfare Films started production of Evel Knievel
Evel Knievel (film)
Evel Knievel was a 1971 motion picture starring George Hamilton as motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel.- Story :The story is a biography of the famed motorcycle daredevil, much of which was filmed in his home town of Butte, Montana. The film depicts Knievel reflecting on major events in his life,...
, a 1971 movie starring George Hamilton
George Hamilton (actor)
George Stevens Hamilton is an American film and television actor.-Early life:Hamilton was the youngest son of bandleader George "Spike" Hamilton and his first wife, Ann Stevens . He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and lived in Blytheville, Arkansas...
as Knievel. There have been two other movies made about Evel: A television pilot made in 1974 starring Sam Elliott
Sam Elliott
Samuel Pack "Sam" Elliott is an American actor. His rangy physique, thick horseshoe moustache, and deep, resonant voice match the iconic image of a cowboy or rancher, and he has often been cast in such roles.-Early life:Sam Elliott was born in Sacramento, California, to a physical training...
, and made-for-TV film in 2004 starring George Eads
George Eads
George Coleman Eads III is an American actor, best known for his role as Nick Stokes on the CBS crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.-Early life:...
. Also in 1974, Evel and Amherst Records released the self title album "Evel Knievel" which included a press conference, an anti-drug talk for his young fans, and four other tracks.
Knievel kept up his pursuit of getting the United States government to allow him to jump the Grand Canyon. To push his case, he hired famed San Francisco defense attorney Melvin Belli
Melvin Belli
Melvin Mouron Belli was a prominent American lawyer known as "The King of Torts" and by detractors as 'Melvin Bellicose'. He had many celebrity clients, including Zsa Zsa Gabor, Errol Flynn, Chuck Berry, Muhammad Ali, Sirhan Sirhan, the Rolling Stones, Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye Bakker, Martha...
to fight the legal battle in obtaining government permission. ABC's Wide World of Sports started showing Knievel's jumps on television regularly. His popularity, especially with young boys, was ever increasing. He became a hero to a generation of young boys, many of whom were injured trying to imitate his stunts. A. J. Foyt
A. J. Foyt
Anthony Joseph Foyt, Jr., or as he is universally known as in motorsports circles, A. J. Foyt , is a retired American automobile racing driver. He raced in numerous genres of motorsports. His open wheel racing includes USAC Champ cars and midget cars. He raced stock cars in NASCAR and USAC. He won...
made Knievel part of his pit crew
Pit stop
In motorsports, a pit stop is where a racing vehicle stops in the pits during a race for refuelling, new tires, repairs, mechanical adjustments, a driver change, or any combination of the above...
for the Indianapolis 500
Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, also known as the Indianapolis 500, the 500 Miles at Indianapolis, the Indy 500 or The 500, is an American automobile race, held annually, typically on the last weekend in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana...
in 1970. Evel Knievel's huge fame caused him to start traveling with a bodyguard, Boots Curtis. Curtis became a long time friend to Knievel.
Ideal Toys
Between 1972 and 1977, Ideal Toy CompanyIdeal Toy Company
Ideal Toy Company was founded as Ideal Novelty and Toy Company in New York in 1907 by Morris and Rose Michtom after they had invented the Teddy bear in 1903. The company changed its name to Ideal Toy Company in 1938...
released a series of Evel Knievel related merchandise. During the six years the toys were manufactured, Ideal claimed to have sold more than $125 million worth of Knievel toys. The toys included the original 1972 figures, which offered various outfits and accessories. In 1973, Ideal released the Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle. After the release of the Stunt Cycle, the Knievel toys were the best selling item for Ideal.
During the next four years, Ideal Toys released various models relating to Evel Knievel’s touring stunt show. The models included a Robbie Knievel
Robbie Knievel
Robert Edward "Robbie" Knievel is an American daredevil and son of stunt performer Evel Knievel.-Family:...
doll, the Scamble Van, a Dragster, a Stunt Car, and the Evel Knievel The Stunt World. Additionally, Ideal released non-Knievel-touring toys, including a Chopper Motorcycle, a Trail Bike, and a female counterpart, Derry Daring. The last item before Ideal Toys discontinued the distribution of Knievel toys was the Strato-Cycle, based on the film, Viva Knievel.
In 1977, Bally marketed its Knievel pinball machine as the "first fully electronic commercial game"; it has elsewhere been described as one of the "last of the classic pre-digital games." (Both electromechanical and solid state versions were produced. The electromechanical version is extremely rare, with only 155 made).
Knievel made several television appearances, including frequenting as a guest on talk shows such as Dinah!
Dinah!
Dinah! is a daytime talk show hosted by singer and actress Dinah Shore, which aired in American syndication markets through 20th Century Fox Television from its premiere on September 9, 1974 until the summer of 1980...
and Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
's Tonight Show
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night....
. In 1977, Evel made a guest spot on The Bionic Woman
The Bionic Woman
The Bionic Woman is an American television series starring Lindsay Wagner that aired for three seasons between 1976 and 1978 as a spin off from The Six Million Dollar Man. Wagner stars as tennis pro Jaime Sommers who is nearly killed in a skydiving accident. Sommers' life is saved by Oscar Goldman ...
, where he played himself and gets inadvertently caught up in East German espionage while appearing in West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
. Actual footage from Evel's L.A. Coliseum jump over crushed cars was used in the beginning of the episode and an indoor jump over 11 cars and 1 van was used at the end of the film. Also in 1977, Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
released Viva Knievel!
Viva Knievel!
As it happens, Evel does crash while attempting the stunt, and though badly injured, survives. He berates Morgan, announces his retirement, and is taken to the hospital....
, a movie starring Knievel as himself and co-starring Lauren Hutton
Lauren Hutton
Lauren Hutton is an American model and actress. She is best-known for her starring roles in the movies American Gigolo and Lassiter, and also for her fashion modeling career.-Personal life:...
, Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly
Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director and producer, and choreographer...
and Red Buttons. Similar to The Bionic Woman, actual footage from the Wembley jump was used in the movie.
Assault charges
While Knievel was healing from his latest round of injuries, the book Evel Knievel on Tour was released. Authored by Knievel's promoter for the Snake River Canyon jump, Shelly Saltman, the book painted an unflattering picture of Knievel's character, alleging that he abused his wife and kids and he used drugs. Knievel, with both arms still in casts, flew to California to confront Saltman, a VP at 20th Century Fox20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
. Outside the studio commissary, one of Knievel's friends grabbed Saltman and held him, while Knievel attacked him with an aluminum baseball bat
Baseball bat
A baseball bat is a smooth wooden or metal club used in the game of baseball to hit the ball after the ball is thrown by the pitcher. It is no more than 2.75 inches in diameter at the thickest part and no more than 42 inches in length. It typically weighs no more than 33 ounces , but it...
, declaring, "I'm going to kill you!" According to a witness to the attack, Knievel struck repeated blows at Saltman's head, with Saltman blocking the blows with his left arm. Saltman's arm and wrist were shattered in several places before he fell to the ground unconscious. It took numerous surgeries and permanent metal plates in his arm to eventually give Saltman back the use of his arm. Saltman's book was pulled from the shelves by the publisher after Knievel threatened to sue. Saltman later produced documents in both criminal and civil court that proved that, although Knievel claimed to have been insulted by statements in Saltman's book, he and his lawyers had actually been given editorial access to the book and had approved and signed off on every word prior to its publication. On October 14, 1977, Knievel pleaded guilty to battery and was sentenced to three years' probation and six months in county jail, during which he publicly flaunted his brief incarceration for the press.
After the assault of Saltman and time served in jail, Knievel lost most marketing endorsements and deals, including Harley-Davidson and Ideal Toys. With no income from jumping or sponsorship, Knievel was eventually forced to declare bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
. In 1981, Saltman was awarded a $13 million judgment against Knievel in a civil trial, but never received money from Knievel or Knievel's estate.
Post-daredevil years
During the 1980s, Knievel would drive around the country in a recreational vehicleRecreational vehicle
Recreational vehicle or RV is, in North America, the usual term for a Motor vehicle or trailer equipped with living space and amenities found in a home.-Features:...
, selling works of art allegedly painted by him. After several years of obscurity, Knievel made a significant marketing comeback in the 1990s, representing Maxim Casino, Little Caesar's, Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson , often abbreviated H-D or Harley, is an American motorcycle manufacturer. Founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during the first decade of the 20th century, it was one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression...
, and other firms.
In 1999, Knievel celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Snake River Canyon jump at the Twin Falls mall. His memorabilia was then stored at Kent Knigge's farm in Filer, Idaho, seven miles west of Twin Falls. During the same year, Knievel was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame
Motorcycle Hall of Fame
The Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum is an offshoot of the American Motorcyclist Association that recognizes individuals who have contributed to motorcycle sport, motorcycle construction and motorcycling in general. It displays motorcycles and riding gear and memoribilia. The museum is located in...
.
On November 19, 1999, on a special platform built on the fountains at Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip
Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...
near Las Vegas, Nevada (site of Evel's jump New Year's Eve 1967), Evel married long time girlfriend, 30-year-old Krystal Kennedy of Clearwater, Florida. Long-time friend Engelbert Humperdinck
Engelbert Humperdinck (singer)
Engelbert Humperdinck is a British pop singer, best known for his hits including "Release Me " and "After the Lovin'" as well as "The Last Waltz" .-Early life:...
sent a recorded tribute to the couple. They were divorced in 2001 but remained together until his death.
On October 9, 2005, Knievel promoted his last public "motorcycle ride" at the Milwaukee Harley-Davidson dealership. The ride was to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
. Although he was originally scheduled to lead a benefit ride through Milwaukee, Knievel never rode the motorcycle because he suffered a mild (non-debilitating) stroke prior to the appearance and limited his visit to a signing session.
On July 27, 2006, on The Adam Carolla Show, Knievel said that he had idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a chronic, progressive form of lung disease characterized by fibrosis of the supporting framework of the lungs...
, and required supplemental oxygen therapy
Oxygen therapy
Oxygen therapy is the administration of oxygen as a medical intervention, which can be for a variety of purposes in both chronic and acute patient care...
24 hours a day.
On July 28, 2006, at Evel Knievel Days in Butte, Robbie jumped 196 feet in a tribute to his father, Evel. Robbie also appeared on stage with his father.
Shortly before his death, Knievel was saluted by Top Gear
Top Gear (current format)
Top Gear is a British television series about motor vehicles, primarily cars. It began in 1977 as a conventional motoring magazine show. Over time, and especially since a relaunch in 2002, it has developed a quirky, humorous style...
presenter Richard Hammond
Richard Hammond
Richard Mark Hammond is an English broadcaster, writer, and journalist most noted for co-hosting car programme Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson and James May, as well as presenting Brainiac: Science Abuse on Sky 1.-Early life:...
in a BBC2 Christmas special. The sixty minute programme Richard Hammond Meets Evel Knievel
Richard Hammond Meets Evel Knievel
Richard Hammond Meets Evel Knievel is a one-off television documentary presented by Richard Hammond and first broadcast on 23 December 2007 on BBC Two. The show was produced by Visual Voodoo and the executive producer was Ben Devlin....
aired on December 23, 2007, less than a month after his death. The documentary was filmed in July 2007 around the annual "Evel Knievel Days" festival in his old home town of Butte. Knievel was clearly in severely declining health, but he still displayed the same spirit and showmanship that had driven his career.
Christian conversion
On April 1, 2007, Knievel appeared on Robert H. SchullerRobert H. Schuller
Robert Harold Schuller is an American televangelist, pastor, speaker, motivator and author. He is principally known for the weekly Hour of Power television program which he began in 1970. He is also the founder of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, where the Hour of Power program...
's Hour of Power television program and announced that he "believed in Jesus Christ" for the first time. At his request, he was baptized before the congregation and TV cameras by Schuller, Founding Pastor of the Crystal Cathedral
Crystal Cathedral
The Crystal Cathedral is a Protestant Christian church building in the city of Garden Grove, in Orange County, California, United States. It is the headquarters and principal place of worship for Crystal Cathedral Ministries, a church founded in 1955 by Robert H. Schuller and affiliated with the...
. Christianity Today
Christianity Today
Christianity Today is an Evangelical Christian periodical based in Carol Stream, Illinois. It is the flagship publication of its parent company Christianity Today International, claiming circulation figures of 140,000 and readership of 290,000...
reported that "...Knievel's testimony triggered mass baptisms at the Crystal Cathedral."
Evel Knievel: The Rock Opera
In 2003, Knievel signed over exclusive rights to Los Angeles composer Jef Bek, authorizing the production of a rock opera based on Knievel's life. Directed by Bat BoyBat Boy: The Musical
Bat Boy: The Musical is a musical with a book by Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming and music and lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe, based on a June 23, 1992 Weekly World News story about a half-boy, half-bat, dubbed "Bat Boy", found living in a cave....
co-creator Keythe Farley, the production opened in Los Angeles in September 2007 to excellent reviews.
Six Flags Evel Knievel roller coaster
Evel Knievel had partnered with Six Flags St. LouisSix Flags St. Louis
Six Flags St. Louis , is an amusement park owned by Six Flags, Inc. It is located in Eureka, Missouri, USA . Opened in 1971 as the third theme park of the Six Flags chain, this was the last park that was built under the Six Flags name...
to name a new wooden coaster after "America's Legendary Daredevil". The amusement park in Eureka, Missouri
Eureka, Missouri
Eureka is a city located in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States, between St. Louis and Pacific, Missouri, along Interstate 44. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 10,189. The city is west of the former site of Times Beach, the site of dioxin contamination discovered in...
, outside of St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, opened the ride on June 20, 2008. The Evel Knievel Roller Coaster operated for three seasons before being renamed American Thunder in 2011.
Declining health and death
In the late 1990s, Knievel was in need of a life-saving liver transplant as a result of suffering the long-term effects from Hepatitis CHepatitis C
Hepatitis C is an infectious disease primarily affecting the liver, caused by the hepatitis C virus . The infection is often asymptomatic, but chronic infection can lead to scarring of the liver and ultimately to cirrhosis, which is generally apparent after many years...
. He contracted the disease after one of the numerous blood transfusions he received prior to 1992. In February 1999, Knievel was given only a few days to live and he requested to leave the hospital and die at his home. En route to his home, Knievel received a phone call from the hospital stating a young man had died in a motorcycle accident and could be a donor. Days later, Knievel successfully received the transplant.
In 2005, he was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a chronic, progressive form of lung disease characterized by fibrosis of the supporting framework of the lungs...
, an incurable and terminal lung disease that required him to be on supplemental oxygen 24 hours a day. In 2006, Evel had an internal morphine
Morphine
Morphine is a potent opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. It was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, first distributed by same in 1817, and first commercially sold by Merck in 1827, which at the time was a single small chemists' shop. It was more...
pain pump surgically implanted to help him with the excruciating pain in his deteriorated lower back, one of the costs of incurring so many traumas over the course of his career as a daredevil. He also had two strokes since 2005, but neither left him with severe debilitation.
Evel Knievel died in Clearwater, Florida
Clearwater, Florida
Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, US, nearly due west of Tampa and northwest of St. Petersburg. In the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and in the east lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 108,787. It is the county seat of...
, on November 30, 2007, aged 69. He had been suffering from diabetes and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis for many years. A longtime friend reported that Knievel had trouble breathing while at his residence in Clearwater, but died on the way to the hospital. "It's been coming for years, but you just don't expect it. Superman just doesn't die, right?" In one of his last interviews, he told Maxim Magazine, "You can't ask a guy like me why [I performed]. I really wanted to fly through the air. I was a daredevil, a performer. I loved the thrill, the money, the whole macho thing. All those things made me Evel Knievel. Sure, I was scared. You gotta be an ass not to be scared. But I beat the hell out of death."
Knievel was buried at Mountain View Cemetery in his hometown of Butte, Montana on December 10, 2007, following a funeral at the 7,500-seat Butte Civic Center
Butte Civic Center
The Butte Civic Center is a 7,500-seat multi-purpose arena in Butte, Montana, USA. Opened in 1952, it hosts locals sporting events and concerts as well as political events. It was the home of the Continental Basketball Association's Butte Daredevils, who played there from their founding in 2006...
presided over by Rev. Robert Schuller (actor Matthew McConaughey
Matthew McConaughey
Matthew David McConaughey is an American actor.After a series of minor roles in the early 1990s, McConaughey gained notice for his breakout role in Dazed and Confused . He then appeared in films such as A Time to Kill, Contact, U-571, Tiptoes, Sahara, and We Are Marshall...
gave the eulogy). Prior to the Monday service, fireworks exploded in the Butte night sky as pallbearers carried Knievel's casket into the center.
Posthumous recognition
On July 10, 2010, a special temporary exhibit entitled TRUE EVEL: The Amazing Story of Evel Knievel was opened at the Harley-Davidson MuseumHarley-Davidson Museum
The Harley-Davidson Museum is a North American museum near downtown, Milwaukee, Wisconsin celebrating the more than 100 year history of Harley-Davidson motorcycles. The three building complex on along the Menomonee River bank contains more than 450 Harley-Davidson motorcycles and hundreds of...
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The exhibit was opened in collaboration with Harley-Davidson Motorcycles and Evel’s oldest son, Kelly. Among the various artifacts from Knievel’s life, the exhibit included his “Shark Jump” Harley-Davidson XR-750, the X-2 Skycycle, his “Wembley Blue” jumpsuit, and his trademark “red, white and blue” jumpsuit complete with his helmet and walking stick. Evel Knievel merchandising, personal artifacts, and X-rays from his injuries were also exhibited.
The TRUE EVEL exhibit ran for approximately two months and ended on September 6, 2010. In December 2010, a traveling version of TRUE EVEL began a one-year tour of the United Kingdom and Europe. The tour began on 4 December in Gateshead.
In November 2010, General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
premiered a television commercial featuring Knievel's Wembley Stadium footage of the crash, followed by Knievel getting onto his feet. The ad focused on GM's restructuring and emphasized the belief that "we all fall down".
Parodies and tributes
Throughout and following Evel Knievel's active career as a daredevil, his persona and notoriety as a fearless daredevil has been parodied and paid tribute within media, including the following:- Knievel's daredevil persona was parodied as "Super Dave OsborneSuper Dave OsborneSuper Dave Osborne is a character created and played by comedian Bob Einstein. He is a naive but optimistic stuntman who is frequently injured when his stunts go wrong.-Appearance history:...
", a fictional character played by Bob EinsteinBob EinsteinStewart Robert "Bob" Einstein is an American actor and comedy writer best known for his portrayal of the fictional stuntman Super Dave Osborne.-Life and career:...
whose signature is to perform outrageous stunts which invariably go awry and result in grievous injury. - The Firesign Theatre parodied Knievel on their album Everything You Know Is WrongEverything You Know Is WrongEverything You Know Is Wrong is a comedy album by the Firesign Theatre released in October 1974 on Columbia Records.-Detailed track information and commentary:...
as 'daredemon' Reebus Caneebus, who jumps to the center of the Earth. - Knievel was parodied in the episode "Bart the DaredevilBart the Daredevil"Bart the Daredevil" is the eighth episode of The Simpsons second season and aired on December 6, 1990. It was written by Jay Kogen and Wallace Wolodarsky and directed by Wes Archer. In the episode, the Simpsons go to a Monster truck rally that features famous daredevil Lance Murdock. Bart...
" on The SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
in the guise of "Captain Lance Murdock". Murdock is a motorcycle daredevil whom Bart meets and is inspired by. Bart turns to daredevilism on his skateboard. The climax of the episode is when Bart attempts to jump his skateboard across "Springfield Gorge", an obvious parody of the Snake River Canyon jump. Homer then comes and stops Bart from making the jump and, while standing on the skateboard, begins to descend down the ramp into the Gorge. At first it appears that Homer is going to make the jump and then he falls to the bottom of the Gorge, suffering several major injuries. - The recurring character of Ernie Devlin from Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law is a parody of Knievel. Always seen on a motorcycle, with an overweight prostitute, he was sued for children imitating his stunts. The character was originally created in 1974 as the lead character of a children's dramatic animated series of the same nameDevlin (TV series)Devlin is an animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera for ABC in 1974.-History:The series was inspired by the huge popularity of Evel Knievel and featured a stunt motorcyclist with a travelling circus, Ernie Devlin, and his siblings Tod and Sandy...
by Hanna-BarberaHanna-BarberaHanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
. - Knievel appears in the film Austin Powers: International Man of MysteryAustin Powers: International Man of MysteryAustin Powers: International Man of Mystery is a 1997 American science fiction/action-comedy film and the first film of the Austin Powers series. It was directed by Jay Roach and written by Mike Myers who also stars in the title role. Myers also plays Dr. Evil, Austin Powers' arch-enemy...
, in which he is frozen along with Vanilla IceVanilla IceRobert Matthew Van Winkle , best known by his stage name Vanilla Ice, is an American rapper, extreme athlete and home improvement television personality...
and Austin Powers. - Knievel has been copied by Marvel ComicsMarvel ComicsMarvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
for the famous character Ghost RiderGhost Rider (comics)Ghost Rider is the name of several fictional supernatural antiheroes appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Marvel had previously used the name for a Western character whose name was later changed to Night Rider and subsequently to Phantom Rider.The first supernatural Ghost Rider is...
. His troop is known as "The Daredevils". Most of their scenes are based on Knievel's stunts and, in the movie, Johnny BlazeGhost Rider (Johnny Blaze)Ghost Rider is a fictional character, an antihero in the Marvel Comics Universe. He is the second Marvel character to use the name Ghost Rider, following the Western hero later known as the Phantom Rider, and preceding Daniel Ketch.Johnny Blaze was portrayed both in the 2007 film Ghost Rider and...
's costume is similar to Knievel's. - Knievel has been parodied in Kanye WestKanye WestKanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...
's music video Touch the Sky, for which Knievel actually filed a lawsuit on West for copyright infringement. The case was settled days before Knievel died. - Knievel has been parodied in the South ParkSouth ParkSouth Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
episode "Pinkeye" as Chef portrays Knievel in a HalloweenHalloweenHallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
costume. - He is shown in Disney ChannelDisney ChannelDisney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...
's The Replacements as Dick Daring, an overactive stuntman who performs stunts and wears an outfit very similar to Evel Knievel's. He has a stuffed bear named "Evel Bearnievel". - He has a part in Disney XDDisney XDDisney XD is a brand of children's TV channels worldwide targeting young males, owned by The Walt Disney Company. The channel was formerly known as Toon Disney and/or Jetix in most areas. According to Gary Marsh, President of Entertainment for Disney Channel Worldwide, "XD" does not "stand for...
's cartoon Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil. - In the 2005 film The Sandlot 2The Sandlot 2-Plot:The start of the movie flashes back to 1962 when Benny becomes the "Jet". The main part of the movie is set in 1972, 10 years after the events of The Sandlot. New kids have moved into the neighborhood of San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. They have started playing baseball in the sandlot....
, the main character refers to him when explaining that nothing could get over the junk wall saying, "Man, even Evel Knievel couldn't jump that wall." - The 2007 movie Hot RodHot Rod (film)The soundtrack was composed by ex-Yes guitarist, Trevor Rabin. Several songs by the Swedish rock band Europe are in the movie, including "Cherokee" and "Rock the Night." The full trailer contains three Swedish rock band songs, Europe's "Cherokee" and "The Final Countdown," and The Hives' "See...
with Andy Samberg parodies Evel Knievel, with the main character attempting to become a stunt man and tries to clear fifteen buses to save his step father. - The 2008 series The Mr. Men ShowThe Mr. Men ShowThe Mr. Men Show is an animated television series based on the original Mr. Men and Little Miss books created in the 1970s, 80s and 90s by British author Roger Hargreaves and his son Adam Hargreaves. Adapted from the published source material into a television variety program, The Mr...
, has a character named Little Miss Daredevil who wears a similar crash helmet and pulls off stunts in a similar vein to Evel Knievel's more famous stunts. - The makers of MTV's JackassJackass (TV series)jackass is an American reality series, originally shown on MTV from 2000 to 2002, featuring people performing various dangerous, crude, ridiculous, self-injuring stunts and pranks...
, in collaboration with Matt Hoffman, have released a tribute to the late stunt man, where the boys of Jackass attempt to set world records and emulate one of their heroes. - Stand-up comedian George CarlinGeorge CarlinGeorge Denis Patrick Carlin was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author, who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums....
, in his famous monologue about air-travel criticized the term "getting on the plane" saying "I'm getting IN the plane. Let Evel Knievel get ON the plane!" - Hip-hop artist, B.o.BB.o.BBobby Ray Simmons, Jr. , better known by his stage name B.o.B, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and record producer. He is currently signed under the labels of Grand Hustle Records, Rebel Rock Entertainment, and Atlantic Records. His debut single "Nothin' on You" reached number one in both...
aka Bobby Ray mentions Knievel in his song "Magic," saying,"I break all the rules like Evel Knievel." - In the 4 th season finale of How I Met Your MotherHow I Met Your Mother (season 4)The fourth season of the American television comedy series How I Met Your Mother premiered on September 22, 2008 and concluded on May 18, 2009. It consisted of 24 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. CBS broadcast the fourth season on Monday nights at 8:30 pm in the United...
, Marshall compares himself to Evel Knievel, and implying Lily is his wife Linda Knievel, and Lily claims, "for the last time, I am not Linda Knievel, I will never be Linda Knievel!" - The electronic musician AimAim (musician)Aim is a British musician, DJ and producer, who was born in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. Aim's sound is a blend of funky electronic music and hip hop beats, a sound which typified the Grand Central Records label...
samples an interview with Evel Knievel in his song 'Original Stuntmaster' on the album Means Of ProductionMeans Of Production* Means of production are the productive assets which are inputs in a production process* Means of Production is an album by the British Grand Central Records musician, Aim....
. - The Hip-Hop artist and Slam Poet B. Dolan has a piece called "The Skycycle Blues" from his album "The Failure" about Evel's life and often wears Evel's trademark jumpsuit on stage.
- The German artist Jens KabischJens KabischJens Kabisch is a contemporary photographer, performance artist, author, and motivational speaker whose work since 2000 has focused on authenticity, spirituality, purity, politics of funding, and the American identity...
since 2000 performs as "Evil Knievel" wearing a helmet and the stars-and-stripes-costume. - The band JamesJames (band)James are a British rock band from Manchester, England. They formed in 1982 and were active throughout the 1980s, but most successful during the 1990s. Their hit singles include "Come Home", "Sit Down", and "She's a Star" as well as their American College Radio hit "Laid"...
refer to Knievel in the song Johnny Yen from the album Stutter: "Watch Knievel hit the seventeenth bus". - "Fearless Fonzarelli" is a " Happy Days" episode broadcast September 23rd and 30th of 1975. It features the character Arthur Fonzerelli jumping his motorcycle over 14 garbage cans. On October 25, 1975 Knievel jumped 14 buses at Kings IslandKings IslandKings Island is a amusement park located northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio. Opened in 1972 by Taft Broadcasting Company and now owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, Kings Island is the most visited seasonal amusement park in the U.S...
amusement park near Mason, Ohio. - He is mentioned within the movie 'The Damned UnitedThe Damned UnitedThe Damned United is a 2009 British sports drama film directed by Tom Hooper and adapted by Peter Morgan from David Peace's bestselling novel The Damned Utd, a largely fictional book based on the author's interpretation of Brian Clough's tenure as manager of Leeds United...
', in a scene set in 1968, suggesting he was reasonably well known in England at that time. - Parodied as Ron Obvious from the first season of Monty Python's Flying CircusMonty Python's Flying CircusMonty Python’s Flying Circus is a BBC TV sketch comedy series. The shows were composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines...
in a sketch which involves ever-more-impossible stunts with an ever-more-injured Obvious.
Movies and television
Evel Knievel has been the subject of a number of movies and films, such as :- The Hottie & the Nottie (2008) Played by Marcus Lindsey (as Evil Konieval)
- Absolute Evel: The Evel Knievel Story (2005) (TV) Played by Nate Golon / Ralph Fontaine
- Evel Knievel (2004) (TV) Played by George Eads (as Evel) / Jake Brockman (as Evel) / Jake Brockman (as Young Bobby)
- Damselvis, Daughter of Helvis (1994) Played by Robert Gann (as Evel Knievelvis)
- Evel Knievel (1974) (TV) Played by Sam Elliott
- Evel Knievel (1971) Played by George Hamilton / John Dale McCutchan (as Evel at 12)
- The Last of the Gladiators aka "Evel Knievel: The Last of the Gladiators"(1988) Archived footage of George Hamilton
- Viva Knievel (1977)Starring Evel Knievel as himself http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viva_Knievel!
- The Bionic Woman (Motorcycle Boogie)5 November 1977 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Bionic_Woman_episodes
See also
- Richard Hammond Meets Evel KnievelRichard Hammond Meets Evel KnievelRichard Hammond Meets Evel Knievel is a one-off television documentary presented by Richard Hammond and first broadcast on 23 December 2007 on BBC Two. The show was produced by Visual Voodoo and the executive producer was Ben Devlin....
– July 2007 television documentary - Bob CorrellBob CorrellBob "Crazy" Correll is a former daredevil and stuntman from Long Beach, California. According to his official biography from Balls, Unlimited, Inc., Correll has enjoyed a varied career racing motorcycles, drag cars, stock cars, and go-carts. He has also flown hang gliders, sail planes, powered...
External links
- Evel Knievel on ABC's Wide World of Sports
- Evel Knievel TV Movie
- Evel Knievel: The Rock Opera, a rock musical about Knievel's life, running in Los Angeles starting September 2007.
- Transcript, Audio, Video of Knievel's religious conversion testimony at the Crystal Cathedral from AmericanRhetoric.com
- Evel Knievel at Find a GraveFind A GraveFind a Grave is a commercial website providing free access and input to an online database of cemetery records. It was founded in 1998 as a DBA and incorporated in 2000.-History:...