Evel Knievel Biography Quotes 28 Report mistakes

Early Life and Origins
Evel Knievel, born Robert Craig Knievel on October 17, 1938, in Butte, Montana, emerged from the rough-and-tumble mining town with a headstrong streak and a flair for showmanship. His parents separated when he was young, and he was raised largely by family in Butte, where the local culture of hard work, risk, and resilience left a deep imprint. As a teenager he gravitated to motorcycles and sports, chasing speed as avidly as he chased an audience. The nickname that would make him famous took shape after a night in a Butte jail, when a comparison to another inmate labeled Awful Knofel inspired him to adopt Evel, a distinctive spelling that captured his brazen persona without embracing the darker meaning of evil.

Building a Career in Stunts
Before his name was on posters, he cycled through jobs that revealed both restlessness and resourcefulness. He worked in the copper mines, tried sales, and even dabbled in semi-professional sports, but motorcycles remained his abiding obsession. By the early 1960s he formed a small traveling stunt troupe and began crafting an act that fused carnival bravado with athletic risk. He studied the physics of ramps and speed, scouted venues that could offer spectacle, and learned the hard way how to fall, recover, and keep the crowd wanting more. When he moved from fairgrounds to larger arenas, he increasingly leaned on choreography, patriotic imagery, and a sense of narrative: the lone rider hurtling toward the unknown.

Television Fame and Iconic Jumps
The jump that launched Evel Knievel into mainstream consciousness came in 1967 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Attempting to clear the resort's fountain on a motorcycle, he crashed catastrophically on landing, a slow-motion catastrophe captured on film and replayed on television for years. The public saw not just a stuntman but a showman willing to court disaster in pursuit of triumph, and a new level of fame followed.

During the 1970s, televised events made him a household name. He became a fixture on sports programs that understood the dramatic appeal of risk and redemption. In 1974 he attempted to cross Idaho's Snake River Canyon in a rocket-powered Skycycle, a spectacle presented to massive audiences. The parachute deployed prematurely and the craft drifted back, but the image of Knievel strapped into a rocket against the American sky cemented his legend as much as any successful jump could.

He returned to pure motorcycle spectacle with the kind of challenges that could be measured in cars and buses. At London's Wembley Stadium in 1975 he attempted a jump over a long line of double-decker buses, landed badly, and was injured again. The announcement of retirement in the aftermath did not hold. Later that year he executed one of his most famous successful jumps in the United States, proving he could still deliver on the promise that drew millions of viewers.

Business, Image, and Popular Culture
Evel Knievel was as much a marketer as he was a rider. He appeared in films, including a 1971 biopic starring George Hamilton, and he parlayed his showmanship into endorsements and licensing deals. The red, white, and blue leathers, the cape, and the star-spangled helmet turned him into an instantly recognizable brand. Toy lines, most notably with Ideal Toy Company, brought miniature versions of his stunts into living rooms, creating a generation of fans who learned first through play what a ramp, a throttle, and a dream could accomplish. He primarily rode powerful machines such as the Harley-Davidson XR-750, and the throaty sound of that bike became part of his signature.

Family and Inner Circle
Behind the spectacle stood a family that lived with the costs of risk and fame. He married Linda Knievel in 1959, and together they raised four children: Kelly, Robbie, Tracey, and Alicia. Robbie Knievel, inspired by his father, later built a prominent career of his own as a stunt performer, taking on high-profile televised jumps and extending the family mystique into a new era. The bond between father and son mixed love, mentorship, and professional rivalry, each jump a salute to the one who came before. Publicists, promoters, and broadcasters formed another circle around him, shaping the way the public experienced his feats. Relationships with sponsors and television producers were crucial, because the scale of his ambitions demanded arenas, airtime, and capital to match.

Legal and Financial Turmoil
Evel Knievel's life also reflected the stresses of celebrity and the volatility of a career built on extremes. In the late 1970s he attacked publicist Shelly Saltman over a book about him, an episode that led to arrest, a civil judgment, and jail time. The fallout damaged his endorsements and complicated his finances, marking a turning point in a decade that had otherwise showcased his drawing power. The same boldness that made him compelling on a motorcycle could harden into confrontation off it, and he spent years working to rebuild his public image and stabilize his business affairs.

Health Struggles and Later Years
No biography of Evel Knievel can ignore the physical price of his work. He broke bones, endured surgeries, and became for many a symbol of the human body's capacity both to fail dramatically and to recover. He addressed students and fans about the dangers of imitation, insisting that his stunts depended on planning, experience, and a willingness to accept consequences. Later, he confronted serious illness, including liver disease that led to a transplant in 1999, a procedure he attributed to complications from earlier blood transfusions. In his final years he faced chronic lung problems that curtailed his public appearances. He spoke openly about faith and redemption, notably at the Crystal Cathedral in 2007 with Reverend Robert H. Schuller, reflecting on risk, ego, and grace as he looked back on a tumultuous life. Evel Knievel died on November 30, 2007, in Clearwater, Florida, closing a chapter that had captivated audiences for four decades.

Legacy
Evel Knievel endures as a uniquely American figure: part athlete, part entertainer, part folk hero. He turned danger into narrative, staging events that blended engineering, courage, and theatrical timing. His image influenced fashion, advertising, and the aesthetics of televised sport. He inspired the growth of extreme sports and set a template for how daredevils could harness media to reach vast audiences. Robbie Knievel's career extended that legacy, while Kelly Knievel helped steward the family name and stories. To friends and rivals alike he was a paradox: meticulous in preparation yet unpredictable in action, grandiose yet candid about fear.

The measure of his impact is not just the number of cars or buses he tried to clear, but the way he made spectators lean forward collectively, holding their breath at the apex between ascent and landing. Evel Knievel transformed the motorcycle jump from a sideshow feat into an emblem of audacity, and in doing so he left a cultural imprint that remains visible every time a rider stares down a ramp and imagines the other side.

Our collection contains 28 quotes who is written by Evel, under the main topics: Witty One-Liners - Overcoming Obstacles - Parenting - Sports - Nature.