He was the man.

Well, biology finally accomplished what physics never could: The death of Evel Knievel. It just shows that you never know. If ever there was a guy who should not have died of natural causes, it was Evel Knievel.

I remember well what a hero he was to me for his accomplishments and, maybe even more so, for his spectacular failures. One wonders how many other kids like me were injured if not outright killed because of that kind of hero-worship. I was one who actually had a motorcycle rather than just a bicycle, and Evel was never far from my thoughts when I cranked it up. For that reason I rarely passed anything remotely resembling an inclined plane without seeing just how far I could launch myself off of it.

I never tried to jump anything approaching the size of a bus or Las Vegas fountain, though. So while I did get injured, it was only slightly, and on some level I was always a little ashamed of that. Every bone in my body like Evel might have been a little much, but you'd think I could have managed at least a green stick fracture or something.

So long, Evel. You can't be blamed if you didn't go out in a blaze of glory. You certainly tried to often enough.