Skip to footer

Former Dolphin swims 10 hours to reach Florida shore

Former Miami Dolphin fullback Rob Konrad is forced to swim to shore after falling off his boat in the Atlantic Ocean.

|
Wilfredo Lee/AP/File
Former Miami Dolphins fullback Rob Konrad swam nine miles to shore after falling overboard. Pictured, he 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.

Former Miami Dolphins fullback Rob Konrad may have found his second calling: open water swimming.

On Wednesday night, Konrad took his boat out into the Atlantic Ocean for some solo-fishing. After falling overboard and unsuccessfully trying to re-board his auto-piloted boat, the ex-NFL player swam nine miles to shore without a life jacket. He spent about 10 hours in waters known for high levels of shark attacks.

According to the Associated Press, friends grew worried when Konrad missed their dinner plans. After contacting authorities, the US Coast Guard sent out a search and rescue helicopter to locate him. Konrad reportedly saw the searchlights, but the spotters were unable to see him in the choppy waters. He had to keep swimming.

Upon reaching Palm Beach, after a nine-mile, 10-hour swim, Konrad contacted the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s office from a nearby oceanfront mansion. Authorities arrived at the beach, where Konrad was found barefoot, clad only in his underwear at 4:40 a.m. on Thursday. He was taken to a local hospital to be treated for signs of hypothermia.

“He was lucky he was able to swim nine miles throughout the night in the dark in the frigid waters,” Syracuse.com quoted Coast Guard public affairs specialist Mark Barney. “He was pretty exhausted.”

Other details of the incident include that on Wednesday night, Konrad was dropped off alone at Boca Raton, where he planned to take his 36-foot boat up Florida’s Atlantic coast to Lake Worth for a night of fishing. In the process of trying to land a hooked fish, he fell overboard.

Thankfully, Konrad possessed the fortitude for a long, cold night’s swim. He has been released from the hospital and the Coast Guard reported he is okay. He has reportedly declined to speak with media about the situation.

Konrad played four years of college football at Syracuse, and was then drafted by the Miami Dolphins in 1999. He played six NFL seasons, and was released in March 2005. He now resides in Boynton Beach, where he operates a financial consulting business.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Former Dolphin swims 10 hours to reach Florida shore
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Sports/2015/0109/Former-Dolphin-swims-10-hours-to-reach-Florida-shore
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe