Evel Knievel's first jump on wide world of sport

Youtube ^ | 1967 | Wide World of Sports

[Rebelbase]

53 years ago.

Video Here.

[real saxophonist]

On my deliveries onto the side streets I still see kids making ramps out of cinder blocks and plywood, jumping their bikes.

WAY better than video games.

[day10]

The Ballad of Evel Knievel

[EvilCapitalist]

I couldn’t resist.

[Kommodor]

It was all fun and games until I got airborne and almost landed on/at the trunk of a tree.

(Thankfully, didn’t go down, no injury, but quite a scare)

And that was enough for me.

[CommerceComet]

He was a good guy and a Christian.

By the grace of God, that is where he wound up but he wasn't always a good guy and definitely not Christian in his early life.

[SamAdams76]

Evel Knievel was extremely popular when I was growing up in the 1970s. We used to ride around on Huffy bikes and we'd setup makeshift ramps to jump. Nothing too crazy but we got banged up quite a bit! No helmets either. You would be laughed at in those days if you showed up with a helmet on.

I try to tell my kids what it was like growing up in those days (they are grown now) and they still can't comprehend it.

Imagine a 12 year old kid today leaving his house early on Saturday morning and not returning until dinner with no way for the parents to know where he was or even get in contact with him.

That was a normal Saturday for me growing up and speaking for myself, I loved it. If I showed up in the middle of the day on a Saturday, my mom would likely shove a broom in my hand and put me to work!

[Rainbow Rising]

He even made a movie: Viva Knievel! Evel preps for a dangerous stunt in Mexico as criminals form a convoluted plot to use him to smuggle drugs into the US. Leslie Nielsen (in his pre-Airplane! days) is the bad guy and Lauren Hutton is the love interest. Gene Kelly and Red Buttons are also in it for some reason. Pure 70s cheese.

[Magnum44]

No helmets either.

[StayoutdaBushesWay]

My dad took me to see the movie with George Hamilton. The next day my friend and I saw a huge hole in the front yard of the neighbor’s house, I guess they removed a huge tree trunk. Anyway, I guess you know where this is going. I got a very fast run and proceeded to “try” and jump it, but being so young, forgot I needed a ramp. Boy did that hurt!

[Jim W N]

Well, certainly none of us were born Christian.

I imagine, like no atheists in foxholes, there are no atheists who jump buses on motorcycles.

[CarolinaPeach]

“On my deliveries onto the side streets I still see kids making ramps out of cinder blocks and plywood, jumping their bikes.

WAY better than video games.”

You said it!

Peach

[SamAdams76]

Yep, that photo is right out of my childhood. Below is another one. This is exactly how we looked and dressed back in the day. I can almost hear "The Night Chicago Died" over the transistor radio. (Paper Lace)

[CarolinaPeach]

Tell the truth, when you guys were doing those jumps, were you (or someone in the group) humming the theme song to “Wide World of Sports”? Because that’s what we did; we applied a current theme song to everything we did.

Yep, trying to explain the things we did as kids to our kids was/is much like telling tall tales to them. “You were outside - away from your house - all day? And Grandma or Grandpa would whistle for you to come home if it was after dark?” Of course when they were kids themselves, they wondered why we didn’t let them do stuff like we did.

Sometimes I tell my husband that we really did hit the sweet spot of having a great time to grow up. Public school hadn’t yet hit the big time skids. School lunches were still real food cooked by ladies in a cafeteria. Halloween was still innocent and fun. Snow days were longed for and fun, instead of dreaded, and summer vacation time was for fun and we didn’t have to do any ridiculous summer projects.

Peach

[real saxophonist]

I had a Kmart 10 speed that for some reason I spray painted completely black.

Now, I'm a pretty serious cyclist, and I do wear a helmet. Because I know how people around here drive.

[MisterArtery]

Saw him make a jump in the Astrodome when they were making that movie. Hamilton and the movie crew were there.

[daniel1212]

Tremendous testimony of a honest and now humbled man, given in a church which needed it! And who essentially gives (probably) the only altar call it ever saw. All should watch/hear it! A brand plucked from the Fire.

[daniel1212]

He BECAME a Christian, as he honestly powerfully testified in the video linked to above. Here is another after that, night unto death (and he was medicated) but it is rather extensive with things I never heard before.

[ConservativeMind]

Daniel1212, thank you for that. It was an honest testimony from someone who now understood both sides of life, but chose to be on God’s side.

I did not recall his acceptance of Christ. He was not fancy in any words he shared—he was just real and probably spoke more than almost all his speaking times on his televised events.

[Jim W N]

Of course. We all BECAME Christians. I’m sure jumping cars, buses, and canyons on a motorcycle helped along those lines.

[Elsie]

I spent a year there 60-61 SAC base.