By MITCH STACY,AP

CLEARWATER, Fla. (Nov. 30) - Evel Knievel, the red-white-and-blue-spangled motorcycle daredevil whose jumps over Greyhound buses, live sharks and Idaho's Snake River Canyon made him an international icon in the 1970s, died Friday. He was 69.

Knievel's death was confirmed by his granddaughter, Krysten Knievel. He had been in failing health for years, suffering from diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable condition that scarred his lungs.

Knievel had undergone a liver transplant in 1999 after nearly dying of hepatitis C, likely contracted through a blood transfusion after one of his bone-shattering spills.

Immortalized in the Washington's Smithsonian Institution as "America's Legendary Daredevil," Knievel was best known for a failed 1974 attempt to jump Snake River 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.

Though Knievel dropped off the pop culture radar in the '80s, the image of the high-flying motorcyclist clad in patriotic, star-studded colors was never erased from public consciousness. He always had fans and enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in recent years.

His death came just two days after it was announced that he and rapper Kanye West had settled a federal lawsuit over the use of Knievel's trademarked image in a popular West music video.

Knievel made a good living selling his autographs and endorsing products. Thousands came to Butte, Mont., every year as his legend was celebrated during the "Evel Knievel Days" festival.

"They started out watching me bust my ass, and I became part of their lives," Knievel said. "People wanted to associate with a winner, not a loser. They wanted to associate with someone who kept trying to be a winner."

For the tall, thin daredevil, the limelight was always comfortable, the gab glib. To Knievel, there always were mountains to climb, feats to conquer.

"No king or prince has lived a better life," he said in a May 2006 interview with The Associated Press. "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 had a knack for outrageous yarns: "Made $60 million, spent 61. ...Lost $250,000 at blackjack once. ... Had $3 million in the bank, though."

He began his daredevil career in 1965 when he formed a troupe called Evel Knievel's Motorcycle Daredevils, a touring show in which he performed stunts such as riding through fire walls, jumping over live rattlesnakes and mountain lions and being towed at 200 mph behind dragster race cars.

In 1966 he began touring alone, barnstorming the West and doing everything from driving the trucks, erecting the ramps and promoting the shows. In the beginning he charged $500 for a jump over two cars parked between ramps.

He steadily increased the length of the jumps until, on New Year's Day 1968, he was nearly killed when he jumped 151 feet across the fountains in front of Caesar's Palace. He cleared the fountains but the crash landing put him in the hospital in a coma for a month.

His son, Robbie, successfully completed the same jump in April 1989.

In the years after the Caesar's crash, the fee for Evel's performances increased to $1 million for his jump over 13 buses at Wembley Stadium in London — the crash landing broke his pelvis — to more than $6 million for the Sept. 8, 1974, attempt to clear the Snake River Canyon in Idaho in a rocket-powered "Skycycle." The money came from ticket sales, paid sponsors and ABC's "Wide World of Sports."

The parachute malfunctioned and deployed after takeoff. Strong winds blew the cycle into the canyon, landing him close to the swirling river below.

On Oct. 25, 1975, he jumped 14 Greyhound buses at Kings Island in Ohio.

Knievel decided to retire after a jump in the winter of 1976 in which he was again seriously injured. He suffered a concussion and broke both arms in an attempt to jump a tank full of live sharks in the Chicago Amphitheater. He continued to do smaller exhibitions around the country with his son, Robbie.

Many of his records have been broken by daredevil motorcyclist Bubba Blackwell.

Wow, big out pouring of grief here..... I guess being famous for effing your body up BIG TIME ain't what it used to be (with computer games and such keeping the kids busy these days) RIP EVIL, you were the best cheap entertainment money could buy...and now, BUBBA BLACKWELL is center stage, with a single spotlight shinin' down (can't wait to see what Bubba's gonna do)

I know a cat you jump-started his automobile somethang like
69 times in one whole year.....Is that what ya would call some kinda reeecord....?



ROCKMAN

Let me Google that one, might be.......how many is that a month ROCK ? (my heads spinnin' a bit at the moment)....

Bit over one a week Pa....
Yeah just over one a week Pa or maybe it's like two a fortnight sorta....



ROCKMAN

Surprised he didn't die at TWENTY nine ... let alone SIXTY nine !

No Pauly ya can't die jump-startin' an autie-mobile....BUT then again there are some ya can....





ROCKMAN

...just got back from my google search. Sorry Rock, "A JUAN GOMEZ in San Pedro, California has jump started his '76 Chevy Nova at least twice a day for over a year now" that's like over 700 times, looks like he's the hombre to beat at this point...

JUAN GOMEZ.....Geeeez not the sorta "cranky" cat ya'd have along for a bank robbery...



ROCKMAN

Rockman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> JUAN GOMEZ.....Geeeez not the sorta "cranky" cat
> ya'd have along for a bank robbery...

I was just thinking the same thing ROCK (I do believe Juan would prefer GATO - "cat" in Spanish - but that's just a wild guess from a "Sailor on Shore Leave" that's had a few too many)

Just gotta say that as a 11 year old motorcycle rider in the early 70's, we thought this guy was the coolest - the jumpsuit, the name, the attitude - kinda like the Stones at that time.

"No Anchovies, Please"

His passing is rather sad and as has been said, how he made it past 21 is anybodys guess. For sure he didn't make it to old age because of his motorcycling skills or Harleys for while he was an incredible showman, he hadn't the first clue about how to ride a motorcycle never mind perform stunts. You just have to watch some of the footage to realise they were wing and a prayer stunts. And then there were the Harleys. Who the fook in their right fooking mind would even contemplate doing any stunt on a Harley? A John Deere with a couple of wheels removed would've have been a far better bet for sucessful jumps than those junkers. Last but not least was the safety gear he didn't use. Ridng a motorcycle with little more than a flimsy catsuit for protection beggared belief, particuarly when you consider the first fact, that he was such a poor motorcyclist, he really should have used stabilisers.
R.I.P. Evel Knievel

thurrick Wrote:
Who the fook in their
> right fooking mind would even contemplate doing
> any stunt on a Harley?

I suppose riding a rice-burner wouldn't look right
with that all-American costume he wore.

One of my boyhood heros...made my dad take me to see him jump once & also made him take me to see the closed-circuit attempt at the canyon. I remember watching him live as well as I remember my 1st Stones show.