Sunday, April 6, 2008

Evel Knievel, first an EcoDaredevil


Evel Knievel hitch hiked from Butte, Montana to Washington, D.C. in the dead of winter in an effort to save the excess elk from slaughter in Yellowstone Park. It happened back in 1961, well before he ever took on the "Evel" daredevil persona and motorcycle jumping career. It took him 11 days and he left Butte for D.C. despite sub-zero temperatures.

The fact is that Evel was always willing to take extraordinary risks and go to extremes in order to accomplish his dreams and further his cause, whatever they might have been.

This photo is from December 1961 inside the White House office of Mike Manatos, administrative assistant to John F. Kennedy, Knievel presenting him with the elk antlers with which he hitchhiked across the country. Evel is the one on the far left in the photo. (Thanks to Matt Vincent (MVincent@mtech.edu) for this bit of EcoDaredevil history)

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