Coast Guard Seeks Missing NFL Players

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”—nor was the vessel in touch before conditions got rough, he noted. The Coast Guard is “deploying all available resources” to look for the group, which was expected to return Saturday night, said Smith’s agent. More»

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—few are still out, the St. Petersburg Times reports. More»

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

(AP) - 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 player William Bleakley—went missing four days ago, when their boat capsized in the Gulf of Mexico. More»

(AP) - 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 weren't optimistic because of the timeframe and possibility of hypothermia. More»

And in Panama, castaway returns home after 28 days adrift

(NEWSER) - A Texas man is mourning the best friend he had to abandon in the Gulf of Mexico to save his own life. After their boat sank on a fishing trip, ex-Marines Ken Henderson and Ed Coen spent more than 30 hours treading water and drifting with their life jackets tied together, the AP reports. But as his friend lost strength, Henderson decided to make a last-ditch effort to save them both and swim for help alone. He made it to a natural gas rig more than 50 miles from where the boat sank and called for help. As the Coast Guard searched for Coen, a fisherman found his body. "He was a very big-hearted person, and would do anything in the world for me," Henderson says. "We were true brothers. I really miss him." More»