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Jul 5th, 2025
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CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) -- Evel Knievel, the hard-living motorcycle daredevil whose jumps over Greyhound buses, live sharks and Idaho's Snake River Canyon made him an international icon in the 1970s, died Friday. He was 69.
Knievel's death was confirmed by his granddaughter, Krysten Knievel. He had been in failing health for years, suffering from diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable condition that scarred his lungs.
Knievel had undergone a liver transplant in 1999 after nearly dying of hepatitis C, likely contracted through a blood transfusion after one of his bone-shattering spills.
Immortalized in the Washington's Smithsonian Institution as "America's Legendary Daredevil," Knievel was best known for a failed 1974 attempt to jump Snake River Canyon on a rocket-powered cycle and a spectacular crash at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. He suffered nearly 40 broken bones before he retired in 1980.
Although he dropped off the pop culture radar in the '80s, Knievel always had fans and enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in recent years. In later years he still made a good living selling his autographs and endorsing products. Thousands came to Butte, Mont., every year as his legend was celebrated during the "Evel Knievel Days" festival.
"They started out watching me bust my Butt and I became part of their lives," Knievel said. "People wanted to associate with a winner, not a loser. They wanted to associate with someone who kept trying to be a winner."
His death came just two days after it was announced that he and rapper Kanye West had settled a federal lawsuit over the use of Knievel's trademarked image in a popular West music video.
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 3,528
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Memory Eternal ! He was so cool when I was a kid.  God bless him. -- John
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 2,373
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Sad to see another pop icon of my youth pass away. In the '70's, his jumps were a big media event.
Vichnaja jemu pamjat'!
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 5,264
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Eternal memory!
I used to have the motorcycle and the Grand Canyon rocket. Evel made it across the canyon when we played.
Dad
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Joined: May 2007
Posts: 2,214
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(Why do you say 'dad', whose dad are you?)
It's unfortunate he died so young.
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 5,264
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(Why do you say 'dad', whose dad are you?)
It's unfortunate he died so young. Dangerous Dan's.... Gordo
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Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 10,930
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Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 1,134 Likes: 1
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Vichnaja Pamjat! I have fond TV memories of Evel when I was a kid.
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Posts: 4,518
Catholic Gyoza Member
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