Evel Knievel Dead at 69

Motorcycle daredevil and '70s showman had been in failing health
By Caroline Miller,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 30, 2007 4:35 PM CST
Evel Knievel Dead at 69
Evel Knievel is shown in his rocket on Sept. 8, 1974, before his failed attempt at a highly promoted 3/4-mile leap across Snake River Canyon in Idaho. Knievel, the hard-living motorcycle daredevil whose exploits made him an international icon in the 1970s, died Friday, Nov. 30, 2007. He was 69. (AP...   (Associated Press)

Evel Knievel, the motorcycle daredevil  who never saw a canyon—or a row of vehicles—he didn't want to jump, died today at 69. He was known for his spectacular failures as well as successes, including an attempt to jump the fountains at Caesar's Palace that put him in a coma, and an effort to jump the Snake River Canyon on a rocket-powered "skycycle" that ended on the riverbank below.

The star-spangled showman had broken nearly 40 bones before he retired, the AP reports."No king or prince has lived a better life," he said in a May 2006 interview. "You're looking at a guy who's really done it all." Knievel retired from stunting in 1976 after sustaining a serious injury jumping a shark tank, and made a good living off of autographs and endorsements. (More Evel Knievel stories.)

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