MJZiggy
12-02-2007, 09:19 AM
By MITCH STACY
Associated Press Writer
CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) - Evel Knievel's hard life killed him _ it just took longer than he or anyone else might have expected.
The hard-living motorcycle daredevil, whose bone-breaking, rocket-powered jumps and stunts made him an international icon in the 1970s, died Friday. He was 69.
He had been in failing health for years, suffering from diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable condition that scarred his lungs. He had undergone a liver transplant in 1999 after nearly dying of hepatitis C, likely contracted through a blood transfusion after one of his many spills. He also suffered two strokes in recent years.
Longtime friend and promoter Billy Rundle said Knievel had trouble breathing at his Clearwater condominium and died before an ambulance could get him to a hospital.
"It's been coming for years, but you just don't expect it. Superman just doesn't die, right?" said Rundle, organizer of the annual "Evel Knievel Days" festival in the daredevil's Butte, Mont., hometown.
Knievel's son Kelly, 47, said he had visited his father in Clearwater for Thanksgiving.
"I think he lived 20 years longer than most people would have" after so many injuries, Kelly Knievel said. "I think he willed himself into an extra five or six years."
Immortalized in the Washington's Smithsonian Institution as "America's Legendary Daredevil," Knievel was best known for a failed attempt to jump an Idaho canyon on a rocket-powered cycle and a spectacular crash at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. He suffered nearly 40 broken bones before he retired in 1980.
For the tall, thin daredevil, the limelight was always comfortable, the gab glib. There always were mountains to climb, feats to conquer.
"No king or prince has lived a better life," he told The Associated Press in May 2006. "You're looking at a guy who's really done it all. And there are things I wish I had done better, not only for me but for the ones I loved."
He garbed himself in red, white and blue and had a knack for outrageous yarns: "Made $60 million, spent 61. ...Lost $250,000 at blackjack once. ... Had $3 million in the bank, though."
Knievel's career began to take a downturn in 1977 after he was sentenced to six months in jail for attacking former television executive Sheldon Saltman with a baseball bat. Saltman, whose left arm and wrist were shattered, told The Associated Press on Saturday that he hoped Knievel was "at peace."
"I've always felt pity for him," said Saltman, 76, who still has a $12.75 million judgment pending against Knievel that, with interest, he estimates has grown to more than $100 million.
"He was a true daredevil, but he basically was not a good human being," Saltman said.
Click here to read more (http://wtop.com/?nid=104&pid=0&sid=1301796&page=2)
Associated Press Writer
CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) - Evel Knievel's hard life killed him _ it just took longer than he or anyone else might have expected.
The hard-living motorcycle daredevil, whose bone-breaking, rocket-powered jumps and stunts made him an international icon in the 1970s, died Friday. He was 69.
He had been in failing health for years, suffering from diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable condition that scarred his lungs. He had undergone a liver transplant in 1999 after nearly dying of hepatitis C, likely contracted through a blood transfusion after one of his many spills. He also suffered two strokes in recent years.
Longtime friend and promoter Billy Rundle said Knievel had trouble breathing at his Clearwater condominium and died before an ambulance could get him to a hospital.
"It's been coming for years, but you just don't expect it. Superman just doesn't die, right?" said Rundle, organizer of the annual "Evel Knievel Days" festival in the daredevil's Butte, Mont., hometown.
Knievel's son Kelly, 47, said he had visited his father in Clearwater for Thanksgiving.
"I think he lived 20 years longer than most people would have" after so many injuries, Kelly Knievel said. "I think he willed himself into an extra five or six years."
Immortalized in the Washington's Smithsonian Institution as "America's Legendary Daredevil," Knievel was best known for a failed attempt to jump an Idaho canyon on a rocket-powered cycle and a spectacular crash at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. He suffered nearly 40 broken bones before he retired in 1980.
For the tall, thin daredevil, the limelight was always comfortable, the gab glib. There always were mountains to climb, feats to conquer.
"No king or prince has lived a better life," he told The Associated Press in May 2006. "You're looking at a guy who's really done it all. And there are things I wish I had done better, not only for me but for the ones I loved."
He garbed himself in red, white and blue and had a knack for outrageous yarns: "Made $60 million, spent 61. ...Lost $250,000 at blackjack once. ... Had $3 million in the bank, though."
Knievel's career began to take a downturn in 1977 after he was sentenced to six months in jail for attacking former television executive Sheldon Saltman with a baseball bat. Saltman, whose left arm and wrist were shattered, told The Associated Press on Saturday that he hoped Knievel was "at peace."
"I've always felt pity for him," said Saltman, 76, who still has a $12.75 million judgment pending against Knievel that, with interest, he estimates has grown to more than $100 million.
"He was a true daredevil, but he basically was not a good human being," Saltman said.
Click here to read more (http://wtop.com/?nid=104&pid=0&sid=1301796&page=2)