After three days combing 39,000km² of ocean, the US Coast Guard stopped searching on Tuesday for two NFL players and a third man lost in rough, chilly Gulf of Mexico waters off the Florida coast.
Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper, free-agent defensive lineman Corey Smith, who played with the Detroit Lions last season, and William Bleakley had been missing since Saturday when their boat capsized during a fishing trip.
Bleakley’s father said he thought the Coast Guard did everything it could and that his expectations lowered after only one survivor was found on Monday, nearly two days after the four friends were knocked out of their 6.5m boat.
“I think they were not to be found,” Robert Bleakley said.
Coast Guard Captain Timothy Close said officials were sure that if there were any more survivors, they would have been found.
Crews did rescue 24-year-old Nick Schuyler, who managed to stay with the boat.
Schuyler told rescuers the boat was overturned by a huge wave and that all four passengers had been wearing life vests and were clinging for life aboard the overturned boat for at least 12 hours before the others drifted away.
Schuyler, 27, remains in fair condition at Tampa General Hospital.
Scott Miller, a friend, said Schuyler told him that on the first night, a helicopter shone a light right above them and that later on, as they continued to drift, he could even see lights from the shore.
It was Bleakley who swam underneath to retrieve three life jackets he could find, along with a cushion, a groggy Schuyler told Miller from a Tampa hospital. Bleakley used the cushion and the other men wore the jackets, Miller said.
But the waves were powerful, and after Cooper and Smith were separated from the boat, Schuyler and Bleakley tried to hang on.
“He said basically that Will helped him keep going,” Schuyler told Miller, who said he had known Bleakley since they were 11. “The waves were just so much. They never got a break.”
Close said the decision was made to stop at sunset on Tuesday after more than 50 search missions over nearly 70 hours from the time their vessel capsized.
Bruce Coooper, Marquis’ father, said paramedics were needed to calm family members when they were told the search would be called off and said that he had not given up hope that his son was still alive.
“We will not give up hope Marquis is out there and fighting to return,” Cooper said. “At some point reality will set in. The time in between is the important time and right now I will keep hoping with my wife and try to keep her calm.”
“There’s a lot of things we have to come to grips with. but we all agreed unanimously we are not giving up hope,” Cooper said.
“I believe in my heart he’s out there fighting to get back. He has a wife and a daughter and a lot of people who love him to get back to,” he said.
“Today’s news is a sobering reminder about how truly precious and fragile life can be. We will continue to pray for a miracle, though we fully understand and respect the decision of the Coast Guard,” the Lions said in a statement.
Smith and Cooper were teammates with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the 2004 season.
Cooper, 26, played in eight games with the Raiders last year. He has played in 42 career games over parts of five seasons with seven different teams. He has loved fishing for years and made many deep-sea trips.
Smith, 29, appeared in 12 games with the Lions this past season, his seventh in the NFL.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was