Missing Boaters

Bruce Cooper, father of Marquis Cooper, left, hugs his nephew Ray Sanchez after speaking at a news conference at the U.S. Coast Guard station in St. Petersburg, Fla., Tuesday, March 3, 2009. NFL players Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith, and friends William Bleakley and Nick Schulyer had not been seen since they left to go fishing Saturday morning. Schuyler was rescued clinging to a boat Monday.

Family and friends of three missing fishermen meet at the U.S. Coast Guard station in St. Petersburg, Fla., Tuesday, March 3, 2009. After scouring about 24,000 square miles of ocean, the Coast Guard called off the search for the three men lost at sea after their boat capsized over the weekend off the Florida Gulf Coast.

Bruce Cooper, father of Marquis Cooper, walks to a news conference at the U.S. Coast Guard station in St. Petersburg, Fla., Tuesday, March 3, 2009.

Bruce Cooper, father of Marquis Cooper speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Coast Guard station in St. Petersburg, Fla., Tuesday, March 3, 2009.

U.S. Coast Guard Captain Timothy Close, right, walks with PA2 Sondra Kneen to brief the media at a news conference at the U.S. Coast Guard station in St. Petersburg, Fla., Tuesday, March 3, 2009. NFL players Marquis Cooper, Corey Smith, and friend William Bleakley have not been seen since they left to go fishing Saturday morning. A fourth man, Nick Schulyer, was rescued Monday clinging to an overturned boat.

U.S. Coast Guard Captain Timothy Close, center, briefs the media during a news conference at the U.S. Coast Guard station in St. Petersburg, Fla., Monday, March 2, 2009.

Donald Nicholson, a friend of NFL football player Marquis Cooper, talks on a cell phone at the U.S. Coast Guard station in St. Petersburg, Fla., Monday afternoon March 2, 2009.

Nick Schuyler clings to the engine of an overturned boat in the Gulf of Mexico Monday, March 2, 2009. Schuyler, who was wearing a life vest, had been clinging to the boat since it overturned in rough seas Saturday evening. He said the other three men got separated from the boat when it capsized.

Nick Schuyler clings to the engine of an overturned boat in the Gulf of Mexico, as the U.S. Coast Guard approaches, Monday, March 2, 2009.

Nick Schuyler is lifted in a basket after he was rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard in the Gulf of Mexico Monday, March 2, 2009.

Nick Schuyler is taken from a Coast Guard helicopter to Tampa General Hospital in Tampa, Fla. on Monday, March 2, 2009. Schuyler was rescued Monday off the Florida coast.

A pickup truck and boat trailer owned by NFL player Marquis Cooper sits parked at the Seminole St. boat ramp in Clearwater, Fla., Monday morning March 2, 2009.

Marquis Cooper is seen with the Seattle Seahawks NFL football team. Detroit Lions defensive end Corey Smith, and Cooper, now with the Oakland Raiders, were among the boaters missing off Florida's Gulf Coast.

Detroit Lions' Corey Smith sits on the bench in an NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers in San Francisco. Smith and Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper were among the boaters missing off Florida's Gulf Coast. One of the boaters, Nick Schuyler, was rescued clinging to an overturned boat Monday.

Will Bleakley poses for a photograph while at the University of South Florida. The Coast Guard suspended its search off Florida's Gulf Coast for Bleakley and NFL players Corey Smith and Marquis Cooper. Another boater, Nick Schuyler, was rescued clinging to an overturned boat Monday.