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One of my childhood heroes died today. He was Superman, Iron-man and the coolest human being to walk the earth since James Dean. He strapped himself to rocket once and tried to jump the Snake River Canyon in Idaho. He had his name legally changed to reflect the signature nickname given to him as a young kid playing little league baseball. Robert Craig Knievel, more widely known as Evel Knievel passed away this afternoon in Clearwater, Florida.

I can’t count the spankings I got for trying to imitate him when I was young. Evel Knievel, was the epitome of the word egomaniac. If there ever was a man who walked the street with his chest stuck out like a bantam rooster it was Knievel. What made him so idolized in the 70’s was that he could back up everything he bragged about. No fear could touch the guy. I’ve seen him take that red, white and blue Harley Davidson and leap it over 13 Greyhound buses. I’ve watched him soar over the heads of live sharks in a giant pool in the Astrodome. I have also watched on live TV as the man broke almost every bone in his body attempting to jump the fountains at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. That was a bad one to say the least, he was in a coma for well over a month and not expected to live. Nevertheless, he bounced right back and kept on daring death to snatch him by his cape.

When I think of my childhood heroes, there really were only three that I considered to be bigger than life. They were Muhammad Ali , ( I use to beg my Dad to let me and my brother set up late to watch him fight) Pete Rose (Charlie Hustle..I don’t care what you say, every kid I knew worked on that belly flop slide into the bases. He deserves to be in the hall of fame, Period!) And Evel Knievel.

I can remember stealing some red cloth that my mom was saving to sew herself a new dress and making myself a Knievel type cape out of it. I had gotten a Evel Knievel bike for Christmas and had built me a take off and landing ramp. I took glue and glitter and made the famous stars and stripes on the back of the cape and talked three of the little girls next door into laying on the ground between the ramps and letting me jump over them. They survived…..Evel Jr. ended up with a scrapped up face and numerous bruises. The take off went fine, but that landing thing was going to take a bit of work. Just like my hero, I wasn’t about to give up. As the guys in my neighborhood got older, the bikes got faster and the ramps got higher. So did the medical bills. A broken collarbone finally got my attention.

It’s hard to believe that was almost thirty years in the past. In my minds eye it was just a few minutes ago. Time flys and so did Evel Knievel. I’ll never forget him.

RIP Robert Craig (Evel) Knievel.

By: Greg Baker