Ex-NFL Player Swims 9 Miles for His Life

Rob Konrad says he fell off his fishing boat near Florida Coast
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 9, 2015 5:46 PM CST
Ex-NFL Player Swims 9 Miles for His Life
Former Miami Dolphins fullback Rob Konrad high-steps into the end zone as he scores against the Carolina Panthers in the second half in this Sunday, Nov. 4, 2001 file photo taken in Miami.   (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

Imagine falling off a boat and swimming through dark, shark-infested waters for more than ten hours in search of dry land. That's what happened to former Miami Dolphins fullback Rob Konrad, who police say was fishing off the South Florida coast Wednesday when he fell off his auto-piloted boat trying to reel one in and couldn't get back on board, Yahoo Sports reports. Desperate, he swam nine miles to Palm Beach and showed up at roughly 4am wearing only his underwear, WPBF reports. He was treated for hypothermia right away. "He was lucky he was able to swim nine miles throughout the night in the dark in the frigid waters," says a Coast Guard rep. "He was pretty exhausted."

He also swam through what the Florida Museum of Natural History calls the world's most shark-infested waters. And his boat was found in a place called Dead Man's Reef in Grand Bahamas, says Bleacher Report. And he watched a Coast Guard helicopter fly by looking for him, no to avail. So did he cheat death? Well, the tweets are flowing:

Bleacher Report says that as long as this story hold up, it "should go down as a truly uplifting story of survival." (More NFL stories.)

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