I didn’t even know he was sick.

Daredevil Evel Knievel, who dodged death in spectacular motorcycle leaps and crashes in a life full of showmanship, died on Friday at age 69, according to his lawyer and a message on his Web site.
“I just spoke with him last night. He seemed to be in good spirits,” said Knievel’s lawyer, Richard Fee, adding he died in the Tampa Bay area of Florida where he recently made his home.

[…]
Knievel — who retired in 1981 after breaking more than 40 bones in his body, including his back seven times — had been ill for some time, suffering from a lung disease.
He recently gave what he said “may be the last interview I ever do” to the December issue of Maxim magazine and battled rap singer Kanye West for infringing his trademark in the “Touch the Sky” video, in which West appears as “Evel Kanyevel” and wears a white jumpsuit like the one Knievel made famous.

Here’s his website.