Nick Schuyler deadlifts at his gym, Sky Athletix [Photo courtesy of Nick Schuyler]
By Paul Guzzo, University Communications and Marketing
On weekdays, you can typically find Nick Schuyler leading intense group workouts at the gym he owns in Lutz.
During those classes at Sky Athletix, he motivates with phrases such as, “You got this” and “Don’t quit.”
For the former Â鶹ĂŰĚŇAV football player, those are more than words.
They are central to his story.
Sixteen years ago, the 2008 Â鶹ĂŰĚŇAV graduate was in a boating accident in the Gulf that killed his three friends.
Schuyler was the sole survivor.
After 43 hours in the water, Schuyler was rescued as he hung onto the capsized boat’s motor about 70 miles from Clearwater’s shore.
Now, two films will tell the tale.
The documentary, “Four Down,” premieres during St. Petersburg’s Sunscreen Film Festival this month and the Hollywood feature film, “Not Without Hope,” starring Zachary Levi and Josh Duhamel, opens worldwide later this year.
William Bleakley and Nick Schuyler [Photo courtesy of Stick Figure Productions and Prix Productions]
Each details the crash, the foursome’s fight to survive and the U.S. Coast Guard’s search-and-rescue efforts.
“But they’re different,” Schuyler said. “The feature has the Hollywood drama. The documentary is more of my personal point of view of what happened.”
On Feb. 28, 2009, Schuyler and his best friend and fellow former Â鶹ĂŰĚŇAV football player William Bleakley, along with former Tampa Bay Buccaneers Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith, left for a fishing trip from the Seminole Boat Ramp near Clearwater Pass.
Cooper’s 21-foot vessel flipped in stormy waters when the men tried to free a stuck anchor by gunning the motor.
News archives state that waves reached as high as 14 feet, wind gusts were up to 50 mph and the water temperature was as cold as 58 degrees.
“The U.S. Coast Guard described it as one of the fiercest storms to hit the Gulf in 25 years,” said Rick French, a producer for both films.
One by one over the next few dozen hours, as they clung to the boat, Schuyler’s friends disappeared under the waves, likely victims of hypothermia. Their bodies were never recovered.
Corey Smith [Photo courtesy of Stick Figure Productions and Prix Productions]
Marquis Cooper [Photo courtesy of Stick Figure Productions and Prix Productions]
The tragedy made national headlines in real time as the U.S. Coast Guard searched for the boat and then rescued Schuyler, whose body temperature had dropped to 88.8 degrees.
He was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey and Bryant Gumbel in subsequent months and, the following year, published the book “Not Without Hope,” a New York Times bestseller about the tragedy.
But he’s not spoken much about the incident since then.
“It’s hard,” he said. “It’s still a part of my life.”
Nick Schuyler and Dwayne Johnson, who was once linked to "Not Without Hope" [Photo courtesy of Nick Schuyler]
The feature film went into development 12 years ago. It was originally slated to star Dwayne Johnson and then Miles Teller as Schuyler before that role ultimately went to Levi with Duhamel playing U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Timothy Close. The holdup was a mix of studio financial issues, scheduling conflicts and then COVID-19.
“It’s been a whirlwind, but that’s Hollywood,” Schuyler said. “But it’s finally happening.”
As for the documentary, that came about in more recent years.
“It’s always been something we’ve talked about – my family, my friends, but hadn’t gotten around to it,” Schuyler said. “Ultimately, it was important to share the story in my voice.”
Schuyler donated a portion of the book proceeds to several charities and a portion of net proceeds from both films will also go to charities in honor of his three friends.
While both movies focus on the tragedy, Schuyler said they also detail the lives that were lost.
“That was important to me,” he said. “I wanted to represent the guys in a big fashion, how they lived, how we fought for one another out there and refused to quit, and not just how they died. They were good men, and a day doesn’t go by that I don’t think about them.”
It wasn’t just the four men who persevered.
"Four Down" premieres at the Sunscreen Film Festival [Photo courtesy of Stick Figure Productions and Prix Productions]
“Part of Nick’s story is the family members who refused to give up hope, and the Coast Guard that against all odds, was able to find Nick alive,” French said. “There isn’t a single person central to this tragic story who quit or gave up hope for a better final outcome.”
Schuyler said it was more emotionally difficult to be part of the documentary.
He was on the feature film set in Malta, where he watched as the cast and crew recreated the worst 43 hours of his life.
“Obviously, watching those scenes was heart-wrenching,” Schuyler said. “Reliving those moments was surreal. But I was also always aware that I was on set and the busyness of the filming process kept me distracted – all the actors and crew and camera and lighting and sets.”
But there was no hiding from memories while filming documentary interviews.
“I had to really get back into it, really relive it,” Schuyler said. “I’d get into explaining something, and they’d say we need more, we need more. It was hard to relive it in such detail.”
Schuyler overcomes the difficult days and survivor’s guilt by focusing on what life has given to him – two children and his wife, Paula, who run Sky Athletix together with his mother, Marcia
Nick and Paula Schuyler at the opening of their Sky Athletix in 2014 [Photo courtesy of Nick Schuyler]
“I was given a second chance, and I've accepted that a thousand times,” he said. “I'm going to make the best of it. I love my family. I love my business. I love working with people and finding ways to motivate them to be the best versions of themselves.”
He hopes the movies also provide inspiration.
“We can’t ever quit,” Schuyler said. “We can’t give up. Even when life feels like hell, keep surviving.”
“” premieres at 7 p.m. on April 24 and screens again at 5 p.m. on April 26. Both show at the AMC Theater at 151 Second Ave. N in St. Petersburg.
Bleakley’s memory continues to live on at Â鶹ĂŰĚŇAV through the , which grants $1,000 to an undergraduate each year.