Thousands in emotional farewell to daredevil Evel Knievel

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2007

BUTTE, Montana (AFP) — Hollywood icons and former sports stars joined around 5,000 mourners in an emotional farewell as motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel was laid to rest here Monday.

Actor Matthew McConaughey and former heavyweight boxing champion Joe Frazier paid tribute at a memorial service ahead of a private funeral for Knievel, who died aged 69 on November 30 from pulmonary fibrosis.

Frazier said he and Knievel met in 1968 and quickly found common ground. "His job and my job were pretty tough jobs," said Frazier at the Butte Civic Center service.

Knievel's daredevil career was at its height in the 1960s and 1970s. During that time, he captured national attention jumping buses and Mack trucks, and attempted to jump a "rocket cycle" over the Snake River...