3,000 Say Goodbye to Knievel

Fireworks and heartfelt eulogies mark daredevil's passing
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 10, 2007 5:27 PM CST
3,000 Say Goodbye to Knievel
The Rev. Robert H. Schuller, founding pastor of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif., speaks at the memorial service for motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel in Butte, Mont., Monday, Dec. 10, 2007. Knievel died Nov. 30 at the age of 69 after years of battling diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis.(AP...   (Associated Press)

Thousands of mourners, including actor Matthew McConaughey and boxing champ Joe Frazier, gathered today to bid farewell to Evel Knievel, New West reports. The ceremony took place in the famed daredevil’s hometown, Butte, Mont., which marked the arrival of his coffin last night with a 3-minute salvo of fireworks. Knievel died Friday at 69.

"I scraped together every dime I had to come here,” said one mourner, echoing the devotion of the crowd, which began forming in the snow well before the service began. Knievel’s son-in-law read a letter from the showman: “I’m right back to the spot where it all began,” it read. “It is on this solid ground where I plan to end my story.” (More Evel Knievel stories.)

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