Knievel Father, Son Loved Vegas Golf
Longtime SNGA member Kelly Knievel had every intention of playing in the Nevada State Amateur July 9-11 at TPC Summerlin, but there was this little obligation he had on Sunday, July 8. Nitro Circus and X Games superstar Travis Pastrana was paying tribute to Kelly’s late father, Evel (yes, that Evel) by performing three of THE daredevil of all daredevil’s jumps, culminating by flying over the Caesars Palace fountains. Kelly just couldn’t make his schedule work out and had to withdraw from the State Am, but his competitive golf days in the SNGA are far from over. — By Brian Hurlburt, Las Vegas Golf Insider.
“I love competitive golf, just love it,” Kelly said a few days after Pastrana successfully landed each of the three jumps live on History Channel. “Golf is a great game because you compete against yourself and I look forward to many more years of playing in SNGA tournaments.”
Knievel, 58, grew up in Butte, Montana, playing high school golf at Butte Central, and then played at New Mexico Highlands University. At 22, he answered an ad in the paper, accepted the sales job, and jumped on a Greyhound bus to Vegas. Golf went by the wayside for about a decade, when he started playing in SNGA events and courses around town, often with his father.
“I didn’t play golf for about 10 years after I moved to Las Vegas, not until I could afford to buy a new set of clubs,” Kelly said. “My dad and I used to play a lot together and he loved it as well. He was lifelong friends with Jay Sarno, who built Caesars Palace. They were gambling, drinking and golfing friends for years and years. That’s where I get it from!
“A favorite story I have is we were playing Legacy with Dave Morris, a friend of mine from Butte. He wanted to play for some money, but didn’t have a lot so he and my Dad played for $5. After a couple holes, my Dad really liked his chances and looked at me and said, ‘Man, I wish your friend had a million dollars!'”
Kelly now works to license his father’s brand and is a partner in Evel Pie, a popular pizza spot in Downtown Las Vegas. He also has a licensing deal with Pastrana’s Nitro Circus and was involved in the production of “Evel Live”, the name of the Pastrana “spectacle”, as Kelly described it. Kelly was on the ramp moments after the Caesars jump and a part of the closing comments of the national telecast.
“It was such a great tribute to my dad,” Kelly said about Sunday’s action.
Pastrana was all-in on honoring Evel’s legacy with the jumps and other ways.
“So many of the kids coming up don’t understand who Evel Knievel was and what impact he had,” Pastrana told Review-Journal writer Ron Kantowski. “To be able to recreate his jumps at this stage of my career is such an honor, and hopefully we can help carry on Evel’s legacy to the next generation.”
Kelly now can focus a bit more on the SNGA and playing the game he and father shared a passion for. And, sometimes, those four-footers par can be just as scary as looking up the ramp with a bunch of resort fountains in the background.
Check out the Review-Journal story from Kantowski here.
