A great man leaves the stage: Evel Knievel dead at 69 years of age.
With the passing of the world's first superstar stuntman, we're all suddenly a little bit older.
I can't remember where I was when John Lennon died, but I'll remember forever that I was at my computer on the first of December 2007 when I first learned that one of my greatest childhood heroes, stuntman superstar Evel Knievel, had ridden that rocket-powered motorcycle across that big canyon into the Great Unknown.
Who better to personify the hedonism, enthusiasm and downright recklessness of a crazy 1970s? Oil was cheap, lives were cheaper, and nothing quite said 'masculinity' like the act of dressing up like Elvis, strapping yourself to a powerful (preferrably rocket-assisted) vehicle, and driving it up a ramp and over something?
The somethings themselves were, well, really something: Greyhound buses, live sharks and even Idaho's Snake River Canyon (I was sure it was the Grand Canyon, but I've checked Google and it appears that's just my childhood memory exaggerating. Still, I bet it was full of snakes.)
Getting air was only half of the challenge. The difficult part was bringing yourself down safely on the other side - something that Knievel seemed far less concerned with than you or I. Over time there were several close calls, and many of Knievel's imitators bit the dust over the years, literally.
Yet Knievel himself flew on, despite many bad landings and countless injuries. He spent amost a month in a coma after attempting to jump over the fountains at Caesar's Palace casino in Las Vegas (he cleared the fountains but blew the landing.) He finally retired from jumping after he broke both his arms and suffered concussion jumping over a tank of live sharks in Chicago.
But if I were a betting man, I'd wager that greater than 99% of our male readers were inspired by Knievel as kids. Sure, kids have been thinking they could fly since the beginning of time, but in the 1970s we had Knievel doing it for real, and we worshipped the man as a hero. We added the same stars-and-stripes and Elvis impersonator touches to our own leaps of faith over a line of skateboards, boxes or neighbourhood kids, a plywood ramp and a three-speed chopper push-bike the only thing between heroic legend and a gravel-rash disaster. Evel Knievel was a hero to young boys everywhere; an inspiration to all of us who've at one time or another attempted to fly through the air on our bicycle, skateboard or billycart.
The news reports say it was old-age and ill-health that got him in the end, and that's a damn shame. Great heroes like Evel should have gone out the way we'd all choose to go out - quickly, with a bang, a crowd of mostly spangly-halter-topped cheerleaders and little boys distraught at their loss...
...a closed casket parade through the city, the fly-past, the military salute, the presidential address...
...and then the flag-draped coffin secured to the flanks of a Saturn V rocket, pointed at the sun, and LIFT OFF!
Did you attempt any Evel Knievel-style stunts as a kid? Share your memories in the comments section below...
- Five fun facts about Evel Knievel
- Did you know that at least three movies of Evel Knievel's life story were made?
- Time Magazine's obituary
- Time Magazine's colourful coverage of Knievel's attempt to jump Snake River Canyon
