‘Evel’ Knievel leaves a legacy – for some
”
Evel
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Knievel was one of my childhood heroes. I’m not sure why because
I wasn’t into motorcycles or red, white and blue jumpsuits, but I
still admired him. I couldn’t believe it when my sister told me he
died. He was a man who defied death so many times that I always
thought he would live forever.
‘Evel’ Knievel leaves a legacy – for some
“Evel” Knievel was one of my childhood heroes. I’m not sure why because I wasn’t into motorcycles or red, white and blue jumpsuits, but I still admired him. I couldn’t believe it when my sister told me he died. He was a man who defied death so many times that I always thought he would live forever.
Robert Craig “Evel” Knievel Jr. died Nov. 30 at the age of 69.
When I was in the sixth grade my buddies and I would take our bicycles to a deserted field and jump over tires. One kid named Kenny jumped higher and farther than anyone else so we called him Kenny Knievel.
Knievel’s health had been bad for the last several years, but before then he called himself a daredevil. He jumped his motorcycle over snakes, sharks, lions, buses, cars and the fountains at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. In 1974 he failed in an attempt to jump in a rocket over the Snake River Canyon in Wyoming. He is in the Guinness book of world records for having broken the most bones of any human being, more than 40.
Knievel got his nickname of Evel from the local police in Butte, Mont. There was another guy who was always in trouble they called Awful Knoffel so they started calling him Evel Knievel. He purposely mispelled it because he didn’t want people to think he was evil.
During the 1970s there was no greater televison than Evel Knievel. This was before cable, satellite and pay-per-view. Most of his jumps were broadcast on “ABC’S Wide World Of Sports.” Anyone with a TV set could watch him. Viewers didn’t tune in to watch him succeed. Viewers tuned in to watch him die. He disappointed people on every occasion.
The Caesar’s Palace jump in 1967 was his first televised on TV. His 1975 jump over 14 greyhound buses in Ohio is the highest rated broadcast on “ABC’S Wide World Of Sports.” His spectacular jumps are four of the 20 most-watched “ABC’S Wide World Of Sports” events to date. His Snake River Canyon jump was broadcast on short circuit TV in movie theaters. He made his last jump in 1981 in Florida.
Two movies have been made about his life; both titled simply “Evel Knievel,” a 1971 feature film starring George Hamilton and a 2004 TV-movie starring George Eads from “CSI.”
Knievel made one feature film, the 1977 flop “Viva Knievel!” The plot has something to do with killing Knievel and using his body to smuggle cocaine.
The cast list reads like a who’s who of bad seventies actors. Leslie Nielsen plays the bad guy. There’s Albert Salmi, Red Buttons, Cameron Mitchell, Lauren Hutton, Marjoe Gortner and Dabney Coleman. For some reason Gene Kelly costars as Knievel’s drunken mechanic. I hope they paid him at least $250 million dollars to appear in this film. He is the only one in the film who actually showed up to act.
As an actor Evel Knievel is a great motorcycle rider. When you put Elvis in a movie you want him to sing. When you put Kneivel in a movie all you want to see is him jump on his motorcycle. He should have just done all of his dialogue riding around on a motorcycle.
It takes almost 30 minutes before Knievel makes his first jump over a cage of lions. In the opening scene he breaks into an orphanage to give the boys an Evel Knievel toy motorcycle. Before his first jump he gives an anti-drug message. Stuntman Gary Lee Davis performed some of the more dangerous stunts.
Knievel also guest starred on shows like “The Bionic Woman”, “The Sonny And Cher Show” and a special called “Evel Knievel’s Death Defiers” that he hosted. You can see most of his jumps on YouTube.
In 1999 he was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall Of Fame. His hometown of Butte, Mont. has Evel Knievel days at the end of July. An Evel Knievel rock opera premiered in Los Angeles to good reviews in September 2007. The Six Flags St. Louis amusement park in Missouri has a new wooden roller coaster named after Knievel, which will open in 2008.
The greatest thing about Knievel is that he was an inspiration. Without Evel Knievel there wouldn’t be any X-games or pay-per-view. He had a huge impact on pop culture. Just about every guy my age who grew up in the ’70s wanted to be Evel Knievel at one time in his life.
My mom said that you knew you could never grow up to be Superman, but there was a chance that you could grow up to be Evel Knievel.
