VEGAS MYTHS RE-BUSTED: Evel Knievel Nearly Died Attempting to Jump Caesars Palace Fountain

EDITOR’S NOTE: “Vegas Myths Busted” publishes new entries every Monday, with a bonus Flashback Friday edition. Today’s entry in our ongoing series originally ran June 16, 2025. Evel Knievel spectacularly failed to complete his jump of the Caesars Palace fountain 58 years ago this week. 

When Evel Knievel attempted to jump his motorcycle 141 feet over the Caesars Palace fountain on Dec. 31, 1967, he only made it 140 feet. Instead of coming down squarely on the landing ramp, his back tire hit its lip. This bad landing launched his body into a somersault over the handlebars, then a 60-yard bouncing roll along the Dunes parking lot pavement.

Many media outlets reported that Knievel nearly died, remaining in a coma for nearly a month. And that was a lie.

Yes, Knievel was badly injured. He broke bones in his hip, pelvis, a femur, a wrist, and both ankles. He also suffered a concussion.

But he never lost consciousness and his life was never in any real danger. He wasn’t even admitted to the ICU.

“He told that story but he wasn’t in a coma,” Knievel’s wife, Linda, admitted in the 2015 documentary “Being Evel.” One of the daredevil’s childhood friends added: “He had the press come in there and played it up — ‘Oh, I’m about to die, don’t know if I’m gonna make it.’

“Well, this was Knievel,” the friend said. “This is what he did. He played it up right to the nth.”

Palace of Lies

Recently, we learned that Caesars Palace founder Jay Sarno may have also had a role in scamming reporters — or at least that he tried to take credit for one. This is thanks to a speech given by Sarno’s son at the fourth annual Duck Duck Shed architectural festival last month.

“My dad said, ‘Moron Blows Jump!’ is not a good headline,’” Sarno Jr. told the audience, as reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “But, ‘Man Almost Dies After Jump!’ looks a lot better.”

Sarno Jr. was 9 when his dad followed Knievel’s ambulance to Southern Nevada Memorial Hospital (today’s University Medical Center).

“We were scared and disoriented, I was crying, and I said, ‘Is Mr. Knievel going to die?’” Sarno Jr. recalled to the audience. “My dad said, ‘No, no, he might walk with a limp. He’s going to be fine.’”

The elder Sarno paused before adding: “’But, that’s not going to be the report you’re going to read in the paper tomorrow.’”

According to Sarno Jr., his father realized that members of the press would slip undercover into the hospital, trying to pry stories from staffers. So he beat them to it.

Sarno, who was also known for founding Circus Circus, gave a $100 bill to every hospital food server and janitor willing to take it, according to his son, instructing them to report, when asked, that Evel was “just barely hanging on.” (Sarno knew not to bribe any medical personnel because they were under oath and wouldn’t talk to the media anyway.)

“All these false stories got reported the next day,” Sarno Jr. said. “And what happens is, anybody who writes a book about history, they look for microfilm records of the newspaper.

“Once you anchor some (BS) like that, it never goes away.”

After Caesars Palace, Evel attempted to complete at least 65 more jumps — including his famously failed 1974 attempt to rocket over the Snake River Canyon — before calling it a career in 1980. He died on Nov. 30, 2007, of pulmonary disease in Clearwater, Fla. He was 69.

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