BUTTE — This time of year is special because it’s the annual county fair in Butte, but Friday, Aug. 2 was also special because a legendary daredevil took his last leap as he plans on retiring this year.
"It’s kind of like a sad feeling you know? But I’m pretty glad to retire. But, I’m real confident in doing the high falls. I did quite a few of them and I know I can still do it at even 75 years old. I know I can still do it," says Spanky Spangler, a world-famous stuntman who first performed in Butte for an Evel Knievel event 20 years ago.
Just before he took his last leap on Aug. 3, Spangler was leaning against the crane that would slowly raise him above a giant red, white, and blue air pillow. He looked on from the crane.
Saturday night, he ended a career that spans 22,000 stunts and 22 world records. His career began as a U.S. Army paratrooper in Vietnam and he chose to do his very last stunt in Butte because he says the town is like a second home to him.
"Well you know what I really like about Butte is the first time I jumped up here, I don’t know, they had 20-30 thousand people out in the streets watching me jump and they were all — they treated me so good," says Spangler.
Before he joined the Army, Spanky says he performed stunts as a 12-year-old boy for Hollywood productions. He says one time they gave him a couple of bucks to perform a stunt. At that young age, the payment for doing something that came so easily to him set a fire under him, sometimes literally. He just knew that he was a natural stuntman.
"I was God-gifted to do stunts and said, 'Couldn’t I have been a computer programmer?' No. It worked out for me though because it took me around the world 16 times," Spangler says.
Acts from Levi Troutman, the Kamakazie Kid, and Butte’s own Levi Renz with a group of motocross athletes opened for Spangler. After performing his last leap, Spanky Spangler told the crowd his goal is to bring the best stuntmen and women to Butte for more death-defying acts.
"I might not perform but I want to bring some guys back to perform for you guys because everybody wants to do stunts in Butte, Montana."
