Last Friday Evel Knievel passed away at the age of 69. He had been battling lung disease for the last three years. Any skateboarder that can remember the first time they got on a board as a child or even teenager should be able to relive to the thrill that you felt the first time you felt that glide over the concrete or asphalt. Many of us were called “daredevils” by our chuckling neighbors, parents or relatives. Many of us felt like outlaws skating in times when it was unpopular. All of us should be able to relate to Evel a little. Nowadays there are about hundred Extreme Motocross riders (who probably have a different name for their discipline) who perform technical jumps of higher magnitudes of difficulty on a regular basis in arenas everywhere, but Evel was the first of his kind, and he was a real showman as well. As I kid I sat glued to the TV when he jumped double decker busses in a stadium. Of course he ate it pretty bad. I also watched the less than spectacular Snake River canyon jump too. Even though it seemed like he was always eating it, you had to love the guy. The Photos above are all from the official Evel Knievel web site. On the bottom right that’s Tony Hawk with Evel as part of a Vanity Fair photos shoot featuring sports icons and their hereos. Tony chose Evel Kneivel for his session.
5 comments
Kilwag
So he was a mere mortal, like the rest of us?
Nah, that’s good stuff. Thanks for sharing.
Helena Pete
In Montana we’re proud to claim Evel as our own. While he’s been out of the national spotlight, he made it into the local spotlight every year during Evel Knievel Days in Butte. We always enjoyed his whacked out “Stay offa drugs!” and born-again influenced messages to the youth of Montana. Ask any of the Butte old timers and they’ll tell you he came by his nickname (given to him by the cops in the drunk tank one night) honestly. When he wasn’t beating on reporters with a bat he was holding court down at Pisser’s Palace no doubt delivering semi-intelligible monologues about what went wrong at Snake River. I hope I’m not downgrading this icon or his contribution to popular culture too much. It was that same denial of his own mortality and his refusal to accept the laws of physics and society that made him Evel.
Conahan
I got to see Evel jump a bunch of cars at Lions Drag Strip when I was 11.
brad
I loved him as much as G.I. Joe and Vertebird. After seeing the Snake River Canyon jump on TV we would do it with our toys at the creek behind my house. One of my Evel dolls got accidentally entombed in the foundation of our neighbor’s house when it was being built.
Buddy Rawls
I remember watching for evel kneivel in the 70’s. He was always in the news for something. either a succesful jump or a crash. when the movie came out, we all went to watch it. Then everyone was tuned in on the snake river canyon jump. He was defitely a part of the typical daredevil kid’s world in the 70’s.