Not Without Hope: A Tragedical Story of Nick Schuyler
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funny or die presidential reunion, nick schuyler wiki, nfl boating tragedy: Nick Schuyler thought he would be the next to succumb to the cold Gulf waters before rescue could arrive, After watching the bodies of his three friends drift away from their capsized boat.
In an interview, Schuyler on “The Today Show” recounted to Matt Lauer much of the ordeal that took the lives of Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper, Detroit Lions defensive end Corey Smith and Will Bleakley, Schuyler’s best friend. Bleakley and Schuyler were former University of South Florida football players.
“Watching three guys die in my arms, it was obviously in the front of my mind,” Schuyler said.
The doomed fishing trip started about 40 hours before the U.S. Coast Guard rescued the lone survivor clinging to the outboard motor of Cooper’s 21-foot boat.
The boat flipped into the choppy water when the men tried to free a stuck anchor by moving the rope to the stern and gunning the motor.
“We figured there are two things would happen. Either the rope would rip or we would be freed,” Schuyler said.
Before today’s interview, Schuyler had little to say publicly about the tragic fishing trip.
His only media interview was one in August with Bryant Gumbel of HBO’s “Real Sports.”
He will also appear today on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
He also wrote a book about the ordeal, “Not Without Hope”, co-written by New York Times sportswriter Jere Longman. The book was available Tuesday, the one-year anniversary of the event.
Schuyler told Lauer at first the four men did not believe they were in serious trouble.
“Four football players thinking we were invincible and we’d be able to flip that boat over but that was not the case,” Schuyler said.
The former University of South Florida football player also showed the memorial tattoo on the back of his right arm to commemorate his dead friends.
It has their names and an anchor at the bottom and says in the hour of adversity be not without hope, Schuyler said.
He also described watching his friends’ mental state decay as hypothermia set in and they became delirious and even combative.
“It was the worst thing to watch and go through,” Schuyler said.
Cooper, 26, was the first to go. Schuyler held Cooper’s body for a half-hour.
Smith, 29, was next, swearing and fighting as the hypothermia destroyed his ability to reason.
“I’ve never seen him like that,” Schuyler said.
Finally, it was him and Bleakley, 25. About 12 hours after Smith died, Bleakley began foaming at the mouth.
“I had to watch him pass as well,” Schuyler said.
He said he wrote the book to dispel the rumors that swirled after his rescue that the men were drunk when the boat capsized and they fought afterward.
