TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

NFL Player's Father Not Giving Up Hope

Tribune photo by JASON BEHNKEN

A salvage team set out this morning to retrieve the 21-foot-long boat, which was taken to War Veterans Memorial Park.

ADVERTISEMENT

By KEITH MORELLI and STEPHEN THOMPSON

kmorelli@tampatrib.com and sthompson@tampatrib.com

Published: March 4, 2009

Updated: 03/05/2009 10:35 am

Bruce Cooper knows the official version of what happened to his son. One of four people clinging to an overturned boat in the Gulf of Mexico, his son Marquis gave in to the wind, the cold, the pounding waves. He slipped away from the boat and died.

Cooper says he knows better.

"I raised the kid, I lived with the kid, I can tell you that is not his personality,'' Cooper said during a news conference this afternoon.

"I'm telling you, that didn't happen that way.''

The Coast Guard rescued one of the four men—Nick Schuyler—just before noon Monday, but officially gave up the search for the other three at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Cooper thanked the Coast Guard for its work and said he understood why the agency called off the search, but says he's not giving up hope.

Cooper and other friends and family of Marquis Cooper are calling for pilots and "experienced and qualified'' boaters to continue the search. Three pilots combed the area today, he said, and he's hoping for more.

Marquis' friends and families are subsidizing the pilots to the tune of $50 an hour, plus fuel, he said.
Cooper acknowledged the situation can seem hopeless. The boat carrying his son and three friends capsized Saturday in rough seas whose temperature was in the mid- to low 60s. He knows the odds are low of survival after 100-plus hours in the Gulf. He says he's having trouble sleeping and eating.

"I find myself quite despaired to the point of saying I've lost a son," he said. "But then as I begin to think on his character, on his personality, I start getting a smile. I start getting optimistic."

If anyone can survive, he says, it's his son, a linebacker with the Oakland Raiders and former Tampa Bay Buccaneer. His son's top-notch physical shape and mental toughness make him special, he said.

"This kid is going to fight to the bitter end,'' Cooper said.

Cooper was interviewed via telephone by Larry King on CNN tonight, where he said he remains optimistic his son will be found alive. Members of Corey Smith's family appeared on camera for the show and said they share Cooper's hope.

"I just know Corey's a very strong and determined person," Smith's girlfriend, Nikki Shaw, told King. "I just know he wouldn't give up, so we can't give up."

Smith's sister, Yolanda Newbill said that she would like to talk to Nick Schuyler and hear his account of what happened. Newbill said she doesn't believe some reports that Smith and Marquis Cooper eventually gave up and drifted away.

"Until I speak to Nick, that story is pure speculation," Newbill said.

Fishing boat captain Clay Eavenson said he met Marquis Cooper last month after Cooper's wife, Rebekah, inquired about a charter to catch redfish. The two men forged an immediate friendship because of their love for the outdoors, Eavenson said.

He said Cooper is a humble person who didn't even mention he was a professional football player when he first stepped onto Eavenson's boat.

"Later, I asked him what he did for a living," Eavenson said. "He said, 'I just play a little football.' He told me that one day, he wanted my job."

Eavenson and Cooper went inshore fishing in Tarpon Springs last week. The charter fishing boat captain said he plans on going on a deep-sea fishing boat on Thursday to search for Cooper.

"It's a sad situation," Eavenson said. "It feels unreal."

'That Closed It For Me'

While Bruce Cooper and others continue to hope for the best, more clues continue to come in about what happened on the ill-fated trip. Those on the boat included Marquis Cooper, Schuyler and Will Bleakley, who were longtime friends and former football players at the University of South Florida, and Cory Smith, also a former Buc and NFL free agent.

After 36 hours, Bleakley succumbed to the cold and the constant pounding of relentless waves, said his father this afternoon.

Bob Bleakley talked to the lone survivor, Schuyler, earlier today on the telephone.

"Nick said to me that he would not be alive today if Will hadn't been on the boat," Bleakley said. "His mother and his older brother and myself felt and knew this all along. When Nick said it, we were proud and relieved."

Bleakley said Schuyler told him: "Will stayed with me for 36 hours and was in my grasp when he lost consciousness and died." Bleakley, delirious and vomiting, succumbed to hypothermia and dehydration, to the cold and the constant pounding of relentless waves, his father said.

"Nick tried CPR but Will did not respond," Bob Bleakley said. "Then a wave hit and he couldn't hold on to him anymore. That closed it for me."

Bleakley, Smith and Cooper have not been found."He will have a story," Bob Bleakley said of Schuyler. "He is the only survivor. A great friend of my son. He has got to come to grips with this before he can figure it out."

Survivor Grateful To Be Alive

Schuyler continued to recover from hypothermia and dehydration at Tampa General Hospital today. He is aware of what happened to his friends, said his doctor, Mark Rumbak. "There is a television in the ICU."

Schuyler himself was getting dangerously close to succumbing to the cold and that he had only 10 hours - at the most - left to live when he was plucked from the seas, Rumbak said at a news conference today outside the hospital.

"He was near the end," said the doctor who has been attending Schuyler since Tuesday.

When Schuyler was rescued by the Coast Guard, his body temperature had dropped to 89 degrees, which is considered moderate hypothermia, said Rumbak. He also suffered bumps and bruises to his knees and ankles and his legs were swollen.

All in all, Rumbak said, Schuyler likely will fully recover, although he is being kept in the hospital's intensive-care unit for another day or so. He may be released by the end of the week or the beginning of next week, said the doctor, who now is watching for lingering symptoms of hypothermia that may surface.

The doctor said it was Schuyler's toughness, both physical and mental, that pulled him through.

"This guy is very though, mentally," he said. Training in sports, including motivation and physical conditioning helped Schuyler weather the ordeal.

The doctor described Schuyler's hypothermic condition as moderate. Severe would have been below 82 degrees, he said.

"It's a miracle," said the pulmonary and critical care physician, who is also a professor of medicine at USF. "I can't explain it. Divine providence, I think."

The psychological impact remains unresolved.

Schuyler has declined to seek psychological help offered by the hospital, the doctor said.

"I don't think this has fully hit him yet," Rumbak said. "It may further down the road."

He said it is normal for someone in Schuyler's position "not to fully appreciate the gravity of the situation."

Schuyler was upbeat today, however, the doctor said. He's visiting with family and his girlfriend and asked about getting pesto for lunch.

"He's in much better spirits this morning," Rumbak said. "He is happy to be alive."

Boat Now On Shore

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission recovered the 21-foot boot Wednesday, bringing it into a St. Petersburg boat ramp about 8:30 p.m.

Investigators with the conservation commission say they found personal belongings and equipment trapped under the hull. Fish and Wildlife officer Rich Schefano said it appears the vessel capsized rapidly, probably in "a matter of seconds."

Towing the boat from 35 miles off the coast of Sarasota to the dock in Veterans Memorial Park proved to be a challenge because of the weather, Schefano said.

"It took several hours to get there, and it's taken several hours to get back," he said.

Investigators took photographs of the vessel and checked if the equipment had been working properly. The boat was then released to friends of the Cooper family.

The conservation commission is expected to release its final report on what caused the boat to capsize in the next four to six weeks.

News Channel 8 reporters Mark Douglas and Samara Sodos, Tribune editor Howard Altman and Tribune reporter Ray Reyes contributed to this report. Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 259-7760. Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT