RIP - One of my childhood heroes....

Bummer...

Evel Knievel Dies at 69

CLEARWATER, Fla. --
Evel Knievel, the hard-living motorcycle daredevil whose exploits 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 idiopathic 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.

Yep,

Sad to see him go. I broke a couple of sets of bicycle forks as a kid from his inspiration. (no injuries, though...all of my injuries were fireworks related as a kid!)

Ironic that he died relatively early from medical illness, as opposed to anything directly trauma related.