Evel knievel biography jumps snake river canyon

Editor's note: This story was first publised Sept. 2, 2023, to commemorate the 49th anniversary of the famous stunt. It's reposted here to mark its 50th.

As this Labor Day weekend brings with it the anniversary of Evel Knievel’s failed jump over the Snake River Canyon in Twin Falls, Idaho, Cowboy State Daily drills down on a man whose life trajectory followed that of his jumps.

From dust to dust, Knievel was a man that rocketed to celebrity, peaking as a legend in his own time, and just as quickly came crashing back to earth.

For a time, no one was bigger.

Evel knievel biography jumps snake river canyon

Not Elvis, not Sinatra, not the Beatles. Nobody did the TV numbers this daredevil from Montana did.

Knievel’s fame was part novelty, part bravado and fluky timing. The country had not seen a showman quite like Knievel — a big talker with even bigger balls who became a real-life superhero (complete with the cape) in red, white and blue.

And he couldn’t have arr