Evel Knievel Dies at 69

Photo from Wikipedia

I generally only post items that interest me in some way, be they political, pop culture, or unclassifiable. I can't say I was an Evel Knievel fan exactly, but you couldn't be a kid in the 1970s without being influenced in some way by his stunts and his persona.

Were it not for Evel Knievel, Fonzie (on TV's Happy Days, if you're too young to remember) never would have jumped all that stuff on his motorcycle--and ultimately a shark on water skis. So, when you're reading JumpTheShark.com, you have Knievel to thank for the inspiration.

Evel Knievel and Muhammed Ali were the icons of the 70s, at least to kids, all wrapped up in stars and stripes. I tie together in my memory those two icons, along with the bicentennial, the 1976 Olympics and all of those old Battle of the Network Stars specials. It was all a very innocent, kind of bland but kind of sweet period in American pop culture history. And Evel Knievel was a huge part of it.

[Excerpt]

Iconic Daredevil Evel Knievel Dies at 69

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.

Read more at: New York Times