Daredevil Evel Knievel dead at 69

This afternoon's headlines announced the death of Evel Knievel -- a modern day daredevil if there ever was one! Growing up in the late 60s and 70s, we never missed an Evel jump broadcast on ABC's Wide World of Sports. I think it was the Caesar's Palace jump that really made a name for Evel.

He inspired us to turn innocent sheets of plywood into jumps to launch our stingray bikes off of. With no helmets, padding or parental interference, we tempted backyard disaster in the summer months of our early teens. We all lived to tell about it and will mostly all die in bed like Evel. Although 40 years ago, I'm sure we were expecting to see Evel die live on ABC with Howard Cosell and Dandy Don Meredith doing the play-by-play.

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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.

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Below are some famous and not-so-famous videos of Evel.

The Caesar's Palace Jump


Sometimes he made it...


Actually most of the time he made it...


The true showman at the Snake River Canyon.

(A couple of buddies from Hudson went out to watch Evel jump the Snake River Canyon. My old man, who always told us Evel was an idiot, even watched the Snake River jump on Wide World of Sports.)