The US Coast Guard suspended the search Tuesday evening for the three remaining boaters off the coast of Clearwater, FA. The boaters had been missing since Saturday evening, when they failed to return from their day-long fishing trip.
Included in the three was Oakland Raider, and Valley native Marquis Cooper, son of 12 News sportscaster, Bruce Cooper. Â The other two men, Cory Smith and William Bleakley, were close friends of Cooper.
Smith was a free-agent defensive lineman who spent last season with the Detroit Lions, while Bleakley was a former South Florida player.
Bleakley’s former teammate, Nick Schuyler, was the only survivor. He was found Monday morning, clinging to the bottom of their overturned boat.
Schuyler said the boat was anchored when a wave flipped the board upside down. None of the men had lifejackets on when their vessel flipped, but Bleakley swam under the boat and grabbed life jackets for the other three men and a cushion for himself.
The men were eventually separated due to the strength of the waves.
Devastatingly, Schuyler said that on the first night a helicopter flew right over them, shining a light just above them. The pilot and crew however, were unable to spot the group of men and overturned boat in the darkness and chaos of the stormy seas.
Cooper was born in Mesa on March 11, 1982, and attended Highland High School before starring at Washington University. He was drafted in the third round of the 2004 NFL draft, and played for the Minnesota Vikings, Pittsburgh Steelers, Seattle Seahawks, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and most recently, the Oakland Raiders.
You may leave your thoughts and prayers for the Cooper family over at azCentral.com.
Here’s a memorial for Corey, please visit and leave a message, light a candle, etc. Thank you. http://www.ilasting .com/coreysmith.php