Evel Knievel
| Evel Knievel | |
|---|---|
Knievel c. 1979
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| Born |
Robert Craig Knievel Jr. October 17, 1938 Butte, Montana, U.S. |
| Died | November 30, 2007 (aged 69) Clearwater, Florida, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis |
| Resting place | Butte, Montana, U.S. |
| Occupation | Stunt performer, painter |
| Known for | Motorcycle stunts |
| Spouse(s) |
Linda Joan Bork (m. 1959; div. 1997) Krystal Kennedy (m. 1999; div. 2001) |
| Children | Kelly, Robbie, Tracey, Alicia |
| Parent(s) | Robert Edward Knievel Ann Kehoe |
| Website | evelknievel |
Robert Craig "Evel" Knievel Jr. (/ˈiːvəl kᵻˈniːvəl/; October 17, 1938 – November 30, 2007) was an American stunt performer and painter. Over the course of his career, he attempted more than 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps; in 1974, he failed an attempted canyon jump across Snake River Canyon in the Skycycle X-2, a steam-powered rocket. Knievel was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999. He died of pulmonary disease in Clearwater, Florida in 2007, aged 69.
Knievel was born on October 17, 1938 in Butte, Montana, the first of two children of Robert E. and Ann Marie Keough Knievel. His surname is of German origin; his paternal great-great-grandparents emigrated to the United States from Germany. His mother was of Irish ancestry. Robert and Ann divorced in 1940 after the birth of their second child, Nicolas, known as Nic. Both parents decided to leave Butte. Knievel and his brother were raised in Butte by their paternal grandparents, Ignatius and Emma Knievel. At the age of eight, Knievel attended a Joie Chitwood auto daredevil show, to which he gave credit for his later career choice to become a motorcycle daredevil.
Knievel left Butte High School after his sophomore year and got a job in the copper mines as a diamond drill operator with the Anaconda Mining Company, but he preferred motorbiking to what he called "unimportant stuff". He was promoted to surface duty, where he drove a large earth mover. Knievel was fired when he made the earth mover do a motorcycle-type wheelie and drove it into Butte's main power line. The incident left the city without electricity for several hours. Without work, Knievel began to get into trouble around Butte. After a police chase in 1956, in which he crashed his motorcycle, Knievel was taken to jail on a charge of reckless driving. When the night jailer came around to check the roll, he noted Knievel in one cell and a man named William Knofel in the other. Knofel was well known as "Awful Knofel" ("awful" rhyming with "Knofel"), so Knievel began to be referred to as "Evel Knievel" ("Evel" rhyming with "Knievel"). He chose this misspelling for his first name because he didn't want to be considered "evil".
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