[COLOR="White"][FONT="Arial"][SIZE="3"] CLEARWATER, Fla. - 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 ***, 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.[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR]
:(
I can't believe he died from poor health.
God really does have a sense of humor after all.
i was thinking of him about an hour before he died too
I thought he died from a failed stunt
That sucks. His death is going to be overshadowed by the death of that faggot from Hawthorne Heights.
You must spread more reputation before giving more to Queen. :(
This just makes me think of how lame I'm going to sound when I'm old and I try to tell all the young whippersnappers about how I remember people like Evel Knievel and when they died.
I'm pretty sure that what I meant was conveyed in a perfectly clear manner in my previous post.
Huh. Sucks to be him.
Sucks2b/ded/
There ought to be a national day of mourning for the loss of this iconic national hero. I know I am deeply saddened, and I echo the sentiments of thousands of Americans when I say that we need a holiday to commemorate his life.
jk
but he kicked some serious *** while he was with us. RIP.
For the longest time I thought "Whoa, he looks a lot older than I expected." Turns out I was thinking of his son this entire time. OH WELL