In The Guinness Book of World Records, famous daredevil motorcycle rider Evel Knievel is honored with a top spot: he’s survived the “most broken bones in a lifetime.” And while his tally of broken bones alone (433 according to Guinness) makes Evel Knievel’s life an incredible one, it’s his dedication to his audiences that made him one of the best-loved figures in popular culture.
From the middle of the 1960’s to the early 1980’s Evel Knievel entertained --and shocked and frightened-- audiences by putting his life at risk again and again. A true daredevil, Evel Knievel broke records (and many of his famous bones) jumping over boxes of snakes, stacks of cars, and long lines of Greyhound buses. And sometimes --much more often than you’d think he’d survive-- he just didn’t… quite… make it… across.
The History of a Daredevil
But what made Evel Knievel into the no-respect-for-his-own-life daredevil he would one day become? Some of it may come from a dark-and-difficult time as a young adult. After dropping out of high school in his hometown of Butte Montana, a boy named Robert Craig Knievel ended up in jail for petty crime-- he just couldn’t keep out of trouble.
Funnily enough, it was jail that gave him the nickname Evel Knievel; the warden, trying to be clever, one day dubbed him “Evil Knievel.” And Knievel must have liked the name, because he kept it. In 1965, under the name Evel Knievel, he began to do stunt motorcycle riding for no more than peanuts. Early on, one of his most popular daredevil stunts was to hop his motorcycle 20 feet over a crate of rattlesnakes. Evel Knievel found true fame in 1968 when he attempted to jump over the fountain in front of the Ceasar’s Palace Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, injuring himself badly.
More than just a daredevil, Evel Knievel is also considered to be something of an ambassador for the motorcycle. At a time when riding motorcycles was frowned upon, Knievel brought public attention --and admiration-- to the powerful, rebellious two-wheeler. Today, the sport that Knievel began --riding an old Harley that would be considered a “dinosaur” today-- has expanded into one of the most popular in the world.
Evel Knievel survived all of his adventures, only to go on to die of pulmonary disease at age 69. For almost 20 years the daredevil showman amazed audiences and put his life in constant danger for the love of a show. To read more about Evel Knievel and what made him the legend he became, visit the Smithsonian Magazine website at the following link: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/
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