Good and Evel

If you haven't read Pat Sullivan's obituary of Evel Knievel yet, click on this link and read it right now. Pat has done a remarkable job of summing up the amazing life (and death) of America's Daredevil -- and did it all on deadline Friday afternoon and evening.

When word came in that Evel Knievel had died, it was 4:20 p.m. The obituaries editor, Yvonne Lamb, asked which of the two of us on duty wanted to write the obituary. Both of us were busy with other obits -- check out the stories on FBI watchdog Michael Shaheen and the sad case of disgraced basketball star Ralph Beard -- but we simultaneously shouted, "Yes." Pat had lived in Evel's home state of Montana for many years and got the nod.

Pat's terrific lede (newspaper lingo for the introductory paragraph or two) is one of the best I have ever seen on on obituary. Other obits in the Associated Press and the LA and NY Times may have had a few more details, but none had Pat's evocative flair.