When he was a young heavy equipment operator, Robert Knievel, was fired from his first job. The reason for that was him doing a wheel stand with an earth mover and driving into the main power supply lines of Butte Montana, which left this city without electricity for several hours. Very soon after, Knievel got himself in a police chase which resulted in him crashing his bike. While being in jail, the night jailer noticed a similarity between Robert’s name with the one of another inmate, William “Awful” Knofel, and nicknamed Robert – “Evel”. Later on, this young man became one of the greatest stuntmen the world has ever seen. Thus the legend widely known as Evel Knievel was born.
Knievel embraced this persona and in the middle of the ‘60’s started a career as a stuntman, jumping over a box of rattlesnakes and two mountain lions. It was a small show and got him a small profit, but he was eager to make a bigger show, so he looked out for a sponsor and larger venues for him to perform. He met Bob Blair, an automobile dealership owner, who offered to sponsor him the bikes for his shows. This was around the time when Evel made a distinction of himself from other biker stuntmen since he jumped cars instead of animals or water pools. Each time he revisited a venue, Evel add more vehicles to the jumps as a way to promote his show and attract spectators. He did many jumps without any problem, but on July 28, 1967, he came up a tad short while jumping twelve cars and a cargo van. This gave him his first injuries. However, the accident and his hospital stay gave him enormous publicity.
The most famous jump was the attempt to clear the fountains at the Caesars Palace in Vegas. Knievel self-financed the filming of the jump, During the jump Knievel had several severe injuries. After the jump, ABC bought the rights for the footage of the jump. The broadcast of this jump propelled Evel Knievel into pop culture, where he would remain a regular showman for many years.
In 2007, at the age of 69, Knievel died from pulmonary disease. Evel Knievel will be always remembered for his brazen attitude, flashy Elvis Presley-style jumpsuits, and absolute disregard for his personal safety just to put on the best possible show.
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