IVER E. SCOTT
President
SCOTT VALUATION LLC
(424) 355-5346
|
Looking Back at Evel Knievel |
|
| |
Valuation Services We Offer | |
Complex Securities & Financial Instruments |
- Public/Private warrants & founders shares in SPACs
- Preferred/Common stock in complex capital structures
- Equity derivatives
- Interest rate derivatives
- FX derivatives
- Fixed income securities
| |
- ASC 805/IFRS 3 - PPA
- ASC 360 Long-Lived Assets
- ASC 350 Impairment testing
- Equity consideration
- Contingent consideration
- Risk-neutral Geometric Brownian motion Monte Carlo simulation
- Portfolio valuation
- 409A stock compensation
|
|
Tax & Intellectual Property |
- Estate & Gift valuation
- IP Valuation
- Music Catalogs & Music Copyrights
- Technology & Patents
- Brand & Trademarks
- Film Libraries & Film Rights
- Image & Likeness
- Right of Publicity
| |
I recently had the opportunity to value Evel Knievel’s intellectual property. Talk about nostalgia. I grew up in the ‘70s when Evel Knievel had the same hero status as Luke Skywalker and Superman among us kids. I remember being jealous of my best friend who had the Evel Knievel lunchbox and the iconic shirt with the stars on the sleeve – and doing jumps with our BMX bikes to try to emulate Evel Knievel. With full permission from K&K Promotions, Inc., I’d like to tell you about the man. | |
|
Iconic dare devil, death-defying stuntman, father of extreme sports – Evel Knievel’s name evokes descriptions as dramatic as the motorcycle jumps that made him an American folk hero and household name. From the mid-1960s to the late ‘70s, he soared over a casino fountain and attempted to cross a canyon, but most often he rode his motorcycle at breakneck speed to jump rows of cars, trucks, and buses. His high-flying stunts drew large crowds and eventually massive television audiences too.
Explaining his own success, Knievel said, “They cared about me because I did things other men were afraid to do,” and indeed he did. People were captivated by his gutsy attempts to fly through the sky, the suspense of a possible crash, the shocking spectacle of his body skidding across the ground, and his apparent ability to cheat death again and again.
A Born Daredevil
Evel Knievel was drawn to action at an early age, and he had a reputation for being a bit of a troublemaker too. Born Robert Craig Knievel in 1938, the boy from Butte, Montana stole his first motorcycle at age 13. He once caused a major blackout in his hometown when he collided with a power main while trying to do “wheelies” with an earth mover.
He gained the nickname “Evil” when jailed as a teen for stealing hubcaps. As Knievel told it, the jailers liked to nickname the inmates, calling one with the last name of Knofel “Awful Knofel.” Following suit, they called him “Evil Knievel”, and the nickname stuck. Eventually Knievel legally changed his first name but switched the spelling to “Evel” to mirror his surname.
|
 |
A Motorcycle and a Cage of Rattlesnakes
In 1965, Evel Knievel made his first public jump, launching himself 40 feet through the air over 2 mountain lions and a cage of 50 rattlesnakes. It was a publicity stunt, meant to draw attention to the Honda motorcycle dealership where Knievel worked. He made the jump in front of a crowd of 1,000 people but came down on the edge of the box of snakes. As Evel Knievel later described it, “All the snakes got out and the people had to run down the mountain.” While that may be a bit of an exaggeration, what’s clear is Knievel realized he could draw a crowd to his motorcycle stunts. Soon after he formed a stunt troupe called Evel Knievel’s Motorcycle Daredevils, and by 1966 he embarked on a solo career.
For the next decade, Evel Knievel performed dozens of ambitious motorcycle stunts. Although he successfully completed most of the jumps, Knievel became known for taking spectacular risks that sometimes resulted in crashes and serious injuries. "His fame had little to do with the stunts he successfully pulled off and everything to do with the epic failures and wipeouts,” wrote Stuart Barker in his biography of Knievel.
Hitting the Big Time
The legendary daredevil once said, “Anybody can jump a motorcycle. The trouble begins when you try to land it.” And that’s precisely the trouble Evel Knievel had when he jumped the 150 feet over the fountains at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas on New Year’s Eve 1967. Although the take-off was flawless, on landing the motorcycle’s rear wheel caught the edge of the ramp causing Knievel to lose control of the bike. Horrified spectators saw his body flung like a rag doll down the ramp and across the pavement. The well-publicized, infamous jump catapulted Knievel to fame and into the hospital where he was treated for a crushed pelvis, fractures across his body, and a concussion that left him in a month-long coma. By the time he recovered and resumed jumping, Evel Knievel was a household name.
|
 |
The Height of Fame
Evel Knievel was a keen self-promoter and instinctively developed his personal brand, long before anyone talked about such things. Dressed in his star-spangled white jumpsuit, complete with a cape, Evel Knievel looked like a superhero, and it played well for television. His performances blended his skills as an extreme athlete, showman, and businessman -- the effect was visually stunning.
Arguably the height of Evel Knievel’s career occurred between 1973 and 1976 when ABC’s Wide World of Sports television program featured America’s daredevil showman on 7 separate occasions. The live coverage of his jumps brought the excitement of Evel Knievel into the living rooms of many American homes. As his fame peaked, there were Hollywood movies and a hit song about him. He was on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and Evel Knievel branded toys, coveted by school children, delivered sales valued in the hundreds of millions. He was a phenomenon.
| |
Crossing the Canyon
In the late summer of 1974, Evel Knievel attempted another novel feat. Having been denied permission by the Interior Department to jump the Grand Canyon, he decided to cross a 1,600-foot section of the Snake River Canyon in Idaho on his rocket powered Skycycle. Knievel launched across the edge of the 2,000-foot-deep canyon, but his parachute deployed much too soon, causing the death-defying stuntman to drift into the rocks at the canyon floor without much harm. While not a success, the jump was lucrative, landing Knievel $6 million, according to his New York Times obituary.
Wembley and Retirement
The following year, Evel Knievel had another catastrophic crash. Before live television and a crowd of 90,000 people at London’s Wembley Stadium, Knievel attempted to jump 120 feet across 13 buses. As he came down, Knievel landed on the 13th bus, came off the bike at full speed, his body skid across the stadium floor, and the Harley landed on top of him. The crash broke his back, pelvis, and hand. Despite these injuries, the intrepid stuntman limped to the podium to tell the audience, “I will never, ever, ever jump again. I’m through,” but less than 5 months later he was back at it, jumping 133 feet over 14 Greyhound buses. However, the injuries had taken their toll and Knievel performed just a few more times.
Bone-Breaking Records
“His death-defying stunts entertained millions and made him millions, but in the end, he paid a heavy price in injuries and the damage to his body,” says sportswriter Kyle Dalton in an interesting piece he wrote about Evel Knievel’s injuries. According to Knievel, during his jump career he had 15 major operations and spent the equivalent of 3 years in hospitals and recovering from injuries. Perhaps even more stunning is Evel Knievel’s 1975 Guinness World Record for "Most Broken Bones in a Lifetime", a shocking 35 bone fractures. Not surprisingly, the World Record still stands.
|  |
An Enduring Legacy
It’s been decades since Evel Knievel jumped his motorcycle for gaping audiences, but his influence persists. According to the ESPN Network, the popularity of extreme sports and extreme sports entertainment can be traced to Evel Knievel’s widely watched TV appearances. He remains a touchstone for gutsiness and reckless bravery. One especially interesting pop-culture reference to Evel Knievel came in rapper Kanye West's music video for "Touch the Sky". In the 2006 video “Evel Kanyevel” dons a star-spangled white jump suit and rides a rocket-powered Skycycle over a wide canyon only to crash into the rocks.
When considering Evel Knievel’s iconic career, perhaps it’s best to leave the last word to the high-flying adventurer himself: “I created Evel Knievel, and then he sort of got away from me.”
Licensing
The artwork, images, and likeness of Evel Knievel (Robert Craig Knievel) are protected by copyright and trademark law. It is Not OK to use the name, image, voice, trade dress, likeness, signature, right of publicity, brand products or anything Evel Knievel for any commercial purpose without licensing permission from K&K Promotions, Inc.
If you are interested in licensing the IP or partnering with Evel Knievel, please reach out to K&K Promotions, Inc. at info@evelknievel.com.
Images
Images used with permission from K&K Promotions, Inc. who owns the rights thereto.
Sources
|
| | | |
