Evel Knievel, Daredevil, Dies at 69

From my earliest memories of my childhood, Evel Knievel was an icon. I watched the stunts he performed with such admiration. Having my first motorcycle when I was in 2nd Grade, luckily I didn't try it all at my home but watching him for me was pure magic when I was a child.

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) -- Evel Knievel, the red-white-and-blue-spangled motorcycle daredevil whose jumps over crazy obstacles including 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. He also suffered two strokes in recent years.

Longtime friend and promoter Billy Rundle said Knievel had trouble breathing at his Clearwater condominium and died before an ambulance could get him to a hospital.

''It's been coming for years, but you just don't expect it. Superman just doesn't die, right?'' Rundle said.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Obit...amp;oref=slogin