The Oakland Raiders star Victor “Marquis” Cooper remains missing at sea hours after the U.S. Coast Guard plucked one of his friends out of the ocean Monday afternoon.
Cooper owned the 21-foot boat that set sail from Clearwater Pass at 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning with Cooper, Lions star Corey Smith, Nick Schuyler and Will Bleakley on board.
When the men failed to return Saturday night, Cooper’s wife Rebekah called a friend who alerted the Coast Guard.
Cooper and his wife Rebekah have a three-year-old daughter and have been married three years. But people are talking about how calm, relaxed and downright cheerful she was when speaking with the news media outside their home in Odessa, Florida yesterday. Watch video
Rebekah seemed to be fighting back a smile when she said:
“It feels like my greatest fear coming true. Marquis is extremely laid back, sometimes to a weakness, but fishing is his first love. It always has been.
“There’s nowhere else I would feel more confident than (with) him on a boat, and I have a lot of faith in him out there, regardless of what they may be facing.
“I know that he can pull through it.
“I knew something was wrong when it was kind of getting past the normal time when I get the phone call, ‘Babe, we’re back on shore,’ .Marquis has been diligent about making those phone calls and that didn’t happen (Saturday). That was my first red flag.
“They have a waiting period for a vessel due in and they were very, very helpful in overriding their criteria to get somebody out there sooner because of the weather that was coming and everything. Those guys at the Coast Guard have done everything they can do.
“It’s my worst nightmare to think of anyone I love, especially my husband, in any situation where he is struggling to get back or can’t get in touch with us or get the help he needs”.
