After adopting the nickname "Evel Knievel", he participated in rodeos and ski jumping events, and served in the U.S. Army before marrying Linda Joan Bork and starting a semi-pro hockey team.

Knievel was fired when he made the earth mover do a motorcycle-type wheelie and accidentally drove it into Butte's main power line, leaving the city without electricity for several hours.

After this conspicuous trek (he hitchhiked with a 54-inch-wide (1.4-meter) rack of elk antlers and a petition with 3,000 signatures), he presented his case to Representative Arnold Olsen, Senator Mike Mansfield, and Interior Secretary Stewart Udall.

[14] During the early 1960s, he and other dealers had difficulty promoting and selling Japanese imports because of the steep competition of their auto industry, and the Moses Lake Honda dealership eventually closed.

The Caesars Palace historical jump video is now owned by K and K Promotions, Inc which is the successor in interest and owner of all Evel Knievel trademarks, film footage, and copyrights.

"[22] Four years later, a clause in Knievel's contract to jump 14 buses at Kings Island required a one-day $1 million liability insurance to the amusement park.

After finding a location just east of Twin Falls, Idaho, that was wide enough, deep enough, and on private property, he leased 300 acres (1.2 square kilometers) for $35,000 to stage his jump.

On March 3, 1972, at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California, after making a successful jump, he tried to come to a quick stop because of a short landing area.

[30] ABC's Wide World of Sports was unwilling to pay the price Knievel wanted for the Snake River Canyon jump, so he hired boxing promoter Bob Arum's company, Top Rank Productions, to put the event on closed-circuit television and broadcast to movie theaters.

[31] Investors in the event took a substantial loss, including promoter Don E. Branker,[32] as well as Vince McMahon of what was then called the World Wide Wrestling Federation.

[citation needed] After the crash, despite breaking his pelvis, Knievel addressed the audience and announced his retirement by stating, "Ladies and gentlemen of this wonderful country, I've got to tell you that you are the last people in the world who will ever see me jump.

Later that year on the sitcom Happy Days, motorcycle-riding character Fonzie (Henry Winkler) performed a similar trick, albeit on waterskis, inspiring the creation of the phrase "jump the shark."

[46] The film premiered in June 1977, three months later Knievel and his associates attacked promoter Shelly Saltman with an aluminum baseball bat on September 21, 1977.

Attempting his jumps on motorcycles whose suspensions were designed primarily for street riding or flat track racing was a major factor in Knievel's many disastrous landings.

On September 8, 1974, Knievel attempted to jump the Snake River Canyon on a rocket-propelled motorcycle designed by former NASA engineer Robert Truax, dubbed the Skycycle X-2.

For the remainder of his career, variants of the V-shaped white-starred jumpsuit would be a constant, including a special nylon/canvas flight suit that matched his white leathers for the X-2 jump.

Knievel and a majority of the spectators fought back, injuring three of the fifteen Hells Angels members in attendance to the point that they required hospitalization.

The Bell Star helmet he used in the Caesars Palace jump is credited for having saved Knievel's life after he fell off the motorcycle and struck his head on the ground.

After Triumph, the British motorcycle brand he had been jumping with, refused to meet his demands (it was part of the bankrupt BSA group that was merged with Norton in 1972), Knievel started to propose the idea to other manufacturers.

To push his case, he hired famed San Francisco defense attorney Melvin Belli to fight the legal battle for obtaining government permission.

[citation needed] Between 1972 and 1977, Ideal Toy Company released a series of Evel Knievel-related merchandise, designed initially by Joseph M. Burck of Marvin Glass and Associates.

In addition, the 1999 children's TV series Hilltop Hospital featured a character based on Knievel called Weasel Kneasel, who was the focus of an episode of the same name.

[62][63] After the Saltman assault and subsequent jail time, Knievel lost his marketing endorsements and deals, including Harley-Davidson and Ideal Toys.

[67] The wedding was held on November 19, 1999, on a special platform built on the fountains at Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip (site of Evel's jump New Year's Eve 1967).

[4] After several years of obscurity, Knievel made a significant marketing comeback in the 1990s, representing Maxim Casino, Little Caesars, Harley-Davidson and other firms.

Although he was originally scheduled to lead a benefit ride through Milwaukee, Knievel never rode the motorcycle because he suffered a mild (non-debilitating) stroke before the appearance and limited his visit to a signing session.

[77] In the late 1990s, Knievel required a life-saving liver transplant as a result of suffering the long-term effects of Hepatitis C, which he contracted from one of the numerous blood transfusions he received before 1992.

En route to his home, Knievel received a phone call from the hospital stating a young man had died in a motorcycle accident and could be a donor.

[citation needed] On April 1, 2007, Knievel appeared on Robert H. Schuller's television program Hour of Power and announced that he "believed in Jesus Christ" for the first time.

Upon completion of the puzzle through the NYT Games app or website, solvers were rewarded with a short animation of a person on a motorcycle leaping through the squares of the crossword over three buses.