Appreciation: Evel Knievel, 1938-2007 - TIME

Evel Knievel died Friday after 69 years, which is more than twice as long as it by all rights should have taken him. Knievel, who had been in poor health for years from conditions including diabetes and hepatitis C, was best known for his death-defying jumps on motorcycles (and other vehicles) in the 1960s and '70s. But really the stuntman, born Robert Craig Knievel Jr., was best known, and loved, for his crashes. After a number of successful jumps — over cars, trucks, live animals — Knievel shot to national fame after ABC Wide World of Sports aired footage of him spectacularly crashing, and crushing his pelvis, while trying to clear the fountains at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.