I know it will be hard for some of you to believe that my childhood idol was Evel Knievel.
I was seven when I watched him live on Wide World of Sports crash over the fountains at Caesars Palace. What a showman!
I have a picture on top of the mound he built his ramp on for the Snake River jump in Twin Falls, Idaho. It is still there to this day.
Like many of you, I have scars from "Evel like" attempts. I even jumped a Flexible Flyer sled into a pile of stacked firewood (it ended very badly!)...as a kid it was so cool to jump anything, like next door kids laying down on the street, to the family pets, etc.

So how many of you have Evel induced scars as a kid????

Fly Free Evel...

It's amazing he lasted this long after all the jumps I saw him try didn't end exactly "as planned". Yeh, I have my copycat scars! Amazing what a big deal his stunts were way back when.

Well,I took my Honda dirt bike and tried a jump,on the way up my rear tire hit a tree root and I slammed into another tree head first,removing the bark from the tree with my head.

Yup! My childhood idol is gone also.

Henry Hyde(R) Illinois congressman gone at 83!

Hey at least I didnt get any "scars"! :-)

Where was Evil Kneivel from??? ;-)

i am a wimp, so, no scars.

but, yes, a showman. the stunts were a very big deal back then. i do remember the anticipation - my folks gathering us all in front of the TV to watch his next jump.

fonzie jumping the shark was sacrilige.

Just a good ole Butte, Montana boy...and he played hockey!

(Rykat, you were no child when H.H. was impeaching Willy, even after his own affair! His support of Reagan during Iran Contra and his savings and loan debacle were sad. At least he was anti abortion and started out a Democrat...)

Back to Evel...

There are very few "happenings" on TV anymore that evoke thoughts of "where was I when that happened"?, unless it is a tragedy like 9/11 or the shuttle crashing.

Evel could get every kid on the block to stop playing and watch. It was like waiting for Christmas for me the weeks leading up to the rocket bike jump, you just knew he was going to do something dramatic...

Maybe we're just all too busy anymore or we get to damn many TV channels to create a buzz like Evel, an Ali fight, the Olympics, or even MNF used to do!

And scuba do...that story explains Alot!!!!!!!

He was a

OBNOXIOUS
DRUNKEN
WIFE ABUSER
CHILD ABUSER

Not the best Idol to have he should have gone long time ago

reaper, you can have evel Ill take Hyde and I was only three when he had sense enough to switch parties. Now thats a brilliant mind!!!

Love those Montana boys!!