Evel Knievel’s Legacy
Evel Knievel ranks as one of the most famous motorcycle performers and entertainers. His real name war Robert Craig “Evel” Knievel, Jr., and he was born October 17, 1938, in Butte, Montana. He was raised from the age of 6 by his grandparents in Butte, a copper-mining town. At age 8, he saw an auto daredevil show, which he later credited for his career choice. As a kid, he loved showing off to the other neighborhood kids. One of his favorite stunts was jumping his bicycle. At age 13, Evel got his first motorcycle. He crashed it into a neighbor’s garage while showing off, nearly catching the garage on fire when the bike’s gas tank leaked and caught fire.
Evel had an incredibly varied career that included professional hockey, a stint in the U.S. Army, work in the copper mines, and eventually crime – safecracking and holdups. In 1965 Evel formed a group called Evel Knievel’s Motorcycle Devils. He rode through fire walls and jumped over live rattlesnakes.
Evel continually increased the length and danger of the jumps. New Year’s Eve 1967 he was nearly killed when he jumped the fountains at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. The crash landing put him in the hospital in a coma for 29 days. Evel did many dangerous and thrilling stunts over the following years including jumps over Greyhound buses, live sharks and Idaho’s Snake River Canyon. These stunts made him an international icon in the 1970s. Washington’s Smithsonian Institution has labeled him “America’s Legendary Daredevil.” Evel Knievel suffered nearly 40 broken bones before he retired in 1980.
Knievel married hometown girlfriend, Linda Joan Bork, in 1959. They separated in the early 1990s. They had four children, Kelly, Robbie, Tracey and Alicia. After Evel retired, he managed Robbie’s stunt career. Knievel married his longtime partner, Krystal Kennedy-Knievel in 1999. They divorced a few years later but remained together. Knievel had 10 grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
The 1972 Harley-Davidson XR-750 motorcycle pictured to the left is one of the bikes that he used for some of his incredible motorcycle jumps. He would carefully work out the right angle, speed and thrust, then take off when he had reached 90 to 100 miles per hour. Some of the jumps were as long as 165 feet in length. Evel chose this particular model of motorcycle because it was light and dependable. Being made of steel, aluminum and fiberglass, it weight approximately 300 pounds after he had customized it.
Evel Knievel who defied death for decades died on November 30, 2007 in Clearwater, Florida. He had been in failing health for years, suffering from diabetes and an incurable condition that scarred his lungs. 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 one of West’s music videos.
