Marquis Cooper

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Anchor Problems Capsized NFL Players' Boat

(Newser) - The fishing boat that capsized earlier this month leaving three football players presumed dead was improperly anchored, the AP reports. After interviewing the lone survivor, a Florida agency has determined that when the passengers attempted to free the anchor by gunning the boat’s motor, the craft was swamped and...

NFL Boaters 'Freaked Out' in Just Hours: Final Report

Survivor told Coast Guard companions 'freaked out,' threw punches

(Newser) - Two NFL players may have died only hours after the boat they and two friends were on capsized, according to a Coast Guard report released to the AP. Sole survivor David Schuyler told the Coast Guard that one man "freaked out," took off his life vest, and disappeared...

Family Ends Search for NFL Player

(Newser) - The family of NFL player Marquis Cooper said today they have decided to discontinue their search for the 26-year-old man and two friends still missing in the Gulf of Mexico. In a statement, Bruce Cooper said his family is beginning the healing process, and needs time to be together and...

Private Search for NFL Players Wanes

Family asks volunteer boaters to keep looking

(Newser) - The private search for two missing NFL players and their friend off Florida's coast is winding down, 2 days after the official rescue ended. The family of Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper asked volunteer boat captains to keep looking, but—compared to the dozens of boats combing the area yesterday—...

Survivor Says NFL Players Let Selves Drift Away

(Newser) - The apparent lone survivor of the boat accident that has left three football players missing gave investigators a harrowing version of his ordeal, the St. Petersburg Times reports. Nick Schuyler says the two NFL players with him gave up hope within hours of each other, stripped off their life jackets,...

Families Launch Private Search for NFL Players

Coast Guard search was called off yesterday, and they were presumed dead

(Newser) - The families of the missing football players aren't giving up. Private boats and planes were searching today for two NFL players and a third man after the Coast Guard called off its search yesterday. The men—Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper, NFL defensive lineman Corey Smith and former South Florida...

Coast Guard Calls Off Search for NFL Players

(Newser) - The Coast Guard has ended its search for two NFL players and another man whose boat overturned Saturday off the Florida coast, CNN reports. Presumed dead are Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper, former Detroit Lions player Corey Smith, and a former college football player, William Bleakley. A fourth man was...

Coast Guard Losing Hope: NFL Dad

(Newser) - The father of an NFL player among three men lost at sea said today the Coast Guard's hopes of finding survivors off the Florida Gulf Coast are waning. Bruce Cooper, father of Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper, says he still has hope. But the Coast Guard told families privately that officials...

Gulf of Mexico: More Deadly Than We Think

10-foot seas, 40-mph winds, hypothermia threaten

(Newser) - People may imagine the Gulf of Mexico as a “pond,” but they’ve never seen it “get nasty” in a cold front, writes Terry Tomalin in the St. Petersburg Times. Boaters, like the missing NFL players, can face 10-foot seas and and 40-mph winds. “All it...

3 Lost When NFL Boat Flipped: Survivor

(Newser) - The missing fishing buddy rescued today off Florida's Gulf Coast told rescuers the boat was anchored when it flipped Saturday evening in rough seas and that the others got separated from the craft. The boat belongs to Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper, who along with free-agent defensive lineman Corey Smith...

NFL Players' Pal Found Clinging to Boat off Fla.

Nick Schuyler was with missing NFL players

(Newser) - One of the men who was with a pair of NFL players missing off the Florida coast was found alive today, the St. Petersburg Times reports. The Coast Guard pulled Nick Schuyler off a boat he was clinging to west of Tampa Bay; there was no word on any of...

No Distress Signal From Missing NFLers: Coast Guard

Lion, Raider were fishing off Gulf Coast

(Newser) - The Coast Guard got no distress signal from a missing fishing boat carrying NFL players Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith and two friends off Florida's Gulf Coast, the AP reports. “That's not to say they didn't send one out," said an official. "We didn't receive anything”—...

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