Evel Knievel takes his final jump.

Today Evel Knievel died at age 69. Now I realize that a large percentage of the blogging community doesn’t know dick about Evel. I suppose some might have heard of him from his recent lawsuit against Kanye West for using his likeness in one of his videos. But by and large most people under 30 have limited knowledge of Evel. Which is a shame because this guy was a witches brew of Elvis, James Dean, and P.T. Barnum with a twist of Steve McQueen thrown in for good measure.

He broke just about every major bone in his body during a career that consisted of jumping a motorcycle over all kinds of shit. Cars, busses, and the fountains at Caesars Palace. When that wasn’t enough he tried to jump over Snake River Canyon in a rocket. He didn’t make it across the canyon but to most kids back then it didn’t matter. He had balls the size of Rosie O’Donnell’s head and he was just as opinionated and abrasive as Rosie, but with an actual personality.

Evel Knievel was responsible for countless emergency room visits of wanna be mini Knievels, yours truly being one of those who spent an afternoon in the emergency room to get a broken arm put in a cast. A group of kids in the neighborhood, myself included, built a ramp out of some bricks and an old door. We set it up at the bottom of the hill on 79th and brookside. The plan was to jump the train track that ran along brookside . Bobby Ambrocious went first and he cleared the tracks no problem, but the ramp had to be set back up. I went next. Someone put the ramp on the bricks wrong, and instead of a ramp it turned into a teeter totter, causing me to go ass over tea kettle and breaking my arm. While my mother busted my chops and banned me from my bicycle for the rest of my life, I sat smugly in the waiting room knowing my new cast was a red badge of courage that would be the envy of the other chuckle heads I ran around with.

Evel wasn’t without controversy. He drank too much, there were allegations that he was racist, a woman beater. He was certainly an arrogant egomaniac with an all around ugly disposition and short fuse. Ten year old boys don’t really understand or particularly care about those flaws. They just see this guy who is larger than life, fearless, ballsy, and COOL. He wore jumpsuits with a cape, he was COOL.

The heroes of my childhood have just about all died off. John Wayne, McQueen, and Evel just to name a few. And like all heroes they proved to be flawed men just like the rest of us.

You grow up and you get caught up in the day to day job of living. Most of us lose that childish nature. We stop doing reckless shit like jumping train tracks or leaping out of second story windows onto an air mattress ( another hospital trip, and another story). Of course its necessary to grow up and be responsible, but in the growing up , the world loses a little of its sparkle.

It occurs to me that Evel Knievel never really grew up. When he was doing his thing, he was a big kid . I think that’s what made him a hero to so many young boys in the 70's, he was one of us. I imagine Evel is in heaven. Not because he lived a productive God fearing existence, he didn’t, but anyone who can jump over a line of busses can easily clear a gate.