HUCKLEBERRIES: LaTourrette recalls his 'Evel' classmate

Steve LaTourrette knew his boyhood friend would land on his feet, even if he crashed. On Sept. 8, 1974, Steve predicted that Evel Knievel, his old high school buddy from Butte, Mont., would successfully fly across the Snake River Canyon, near Twin Falls, in his X2 Skycycle. Steve told the Coeur d’Alene Press 50 years ago: “He will make it. He has a way of making a statement and, somehow, he comes through and makes good.” The fabled jump, of course, went wrong from the start. A parachute opened prematurely, sending the Skycycle floating to the canyon floor, where it landed a few feet from the river. Knievel was slightly injured — and at least $6 million richer, according to The Press.