I grew up in the late '70s and through the 80s.  Star Wars, He-Man, GI Joe, and Rocky were all part of my youth.

However, another hero was a real-life guy that was larger than life. He would risk his life on countless occasions and just so happened to be a Montana boy from up the road in Butte.

Robert 'Evel' Knievel was a man among men.

While Knievel's life was certainly colorful, he would be known worldwide as the most famous daredevil on the planet. He would also inspire countless youth, including myself to build "homemade" ramps and jump our bicycles.

In fact, a trip to the ER and a broken wrist was credited to Mr. Knievel when I decided to try and walk down a slide after getting out of the pool.

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Out of all the life-threatening stunts, Knievel was a part of, the most famous of course is when he tried to jump the Snake River in Idaho with the Skycycle X-2.

The jump took place on September 8th back in 1974. The controversial jump is still talked about decades later and while considered by many to be a failure, it is an iconic moment in American history.

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The jump and stunt are well documented in the new documentary on Disney+ called "Stuntman". The documentary follows stuntman Eddie Braun, who met Knievel as a kid and was doing his own stunts at 17.

Braun says that the biggest lesson he learned from Knievel was that when you fail, get up and try again. "He showed me as a kid that you could fail epically and if you get back up and try it again sooner or later you're gonna succeed". Braun said when being interviewed by Mackenzie Quinn of NBC Montana.

Solid advice. No matter if you are jumping a canyon or jumpstarting something new in your life.

Credit: NBCMontana

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