In Memory of EVEL
EVEL Knievel, the hard-living, death-defying adventurer who went from stealing motorcycles to riding them in a series of spectacular airborne stunts in the 1960s and '70s, has died. He was 69.
Knievel had been in failing health for years with diabetes and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable lung condition. In 1999 he underwent a liver transplant after nearly dying of hepatitis C, which he believed he had contracted through a blood transfusion after one of many violent spills.
Only days before his death, he and rap artist Kanye West settled a lawsuit over West's use of Knievel's trademarked image in a music video.
Knievel amazed and horrified onlookers in 1968 by vaulting his motorcycle 45 metres over the fountains of Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, only to land in a bone-breaking crash.
In memory of EVEL, Hans, Blick, and myself rode the San Juan trail today in epic conditions with the downpour of rain we received yesterday. Although EVEL crashed more than he succeeded, he was the first extreme sports hero to many. GOD BLESS...
Posted by Brian on December 1, 2007 09:37 PM