Hollywood Deep

Two days after the announcement that his suit against rapper Kayne West had been settled, motorcycle daredevil Robert Craig “Evel” Knievel, Jr died in his Clearwater, Florida home.

For many, like me, who grew up in the ‘60s and ‘70s, Evel Knievel was a legend, despite the fact that his most famous attempted jumps were also his least successful ones. After a series of jobs that included, among other things, copper mining, hockey promoting, and insurance sales, Knievel decided in the mid-‘60s to start a motorcycle daredevils show, but he was hospitalized after the second of the team’s performances. After his recovery, he became a solo act and soon became known for jumping several cars. The length of his jumps steadily increased until New Year’s Day 1968, when he was nearly killed after jumping the fountains in front of Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. Although the stunt put him in a coma for a month, it also brought him national fame when ABC aired the footage on WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS.

Now we watch Britney, Lindsay, and Paris, they are the train wrecks we are waiting to see. Back in the day, when entertainment was at a premium, we had about 6 channels on TV that went off at midnight. No cable, no internet, no 150 channels to choose from. The coolest thing we watched once a month was Evel on Wide World of Sports. We all gathered around TV sets to see if he could make it. About half of the time he didn’t, so chances were good we’d see some blood. Of course any extreme sport and the X Games owe a huge debt to the man who invented their sport. This is now a billion dollar industry. They should all be headed down to Florida to kiss his feet one last time.

Knievel made it his goal to jump the Grand Canyon, though he realized that the U.S. government would never allow it. While he tried to find a way to finesse permission for the jump, he pulled off a variety of lesser stunts, many successful, some not, such as his failed attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon in 1974. Because of numerous serious crashes, Knievel had suffered at least 40 broken bones before his last jump in Hollywood, FL in 1981.

Knievel also had some success in television and movies, starring as himself in 1977’s VIVA KNIEVEL and appearing in the original BIONIC WOMAN series with Lindsay Wagner. In recent years, Knievel made most of his money from the careful marketing of his image, selling autographs, and endorsing products. He also had high hopes recently for a stage show called EVEL KNIEVEL THE ROCK OPERA. A show I saw a few months ago and liked a lot.

Knievel suffered from diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis. The day of his death, he reportedly experienced shortness of breath and died before the ambulance could arrive. He was 69 years old.
…VIVA Knievel…DEEP!

We all watched Evel Knievel in Las vegas

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