It’s not a common occurrence to read the newspaper and learn that a tennis player saved a man’s life in a kayak mishap in the Gulf of Mexico.
But that’s exactly what happened last month. John Rice of Anna Maria Island, FL plays for the Walton Tennis Center team in the Suncoast Tennis League in Bradenton/Sarasota FL. On January 6, around five in the afternoon, Rice and his wife Tricia saw an abandoned 30-foot cabin cruiser start drifting toward the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, due to a dislodged anchor or a broken anchor line.
“It was starting to get dark and the boat started floating out to sea. All the sudden we see a guy go out on a very small kayak,” recalled Rice, of his astonishing view from his bayfront home on the fateful afternoon. “He was in street clothes and he wasn’t wearing a personal flotation device. Once he hit the wind line, he became unstable, flipped and started struggling. It was a tiny kayak and it filled with water and sank. He tried to swim back but there was an offshore breeze. He wasn’t getting anywhere and he started yelling for help.”
Tricia Rice started to call 911 but John couldn’t just sit there waiting patiently for the emergency crew to arrive. Instead of , watching a man facing imminent death, John put on a wet suit and grabbed a lifejacket and his paddleboard and jumped into the 62 degree water. The distressed swimmer was about 200 yards out and it was getting dark fast.
“He was out of breath and definitely struggling when I got to him. He grabbed the nose of the paddleboard and caught his breath. Then we slowly paddled back. It took a while because we were going against the wind and he had half of his body on the front of my paddleboard. The Marine Unit arrived but by then I had him on shore,” said Rice.
The man’s name was Dale and he said he was not the owner of the cabin cruiser, which was apparently a derelict boat.
“(Dale) was shaken up and thanked me but he didn’t hang around. He refused medical treatment. He should have never taken off like that in a small craft warning.”
The life saving hero downplayed his actions, “It was no big deal.” But his wife had a differing account of the dramatic escapade. “My husband’s being too modest. He was a lifeguard when he was a teenager. There’s no way that man would be alive if it wasn’t for him.”
The cabin cruiser or Dale weren’t seen again but our hero John Rice continues competing for Walton in the 45s and 60s divisions this season.
Anna Maria Island · John Rice · Kayak · Suncoast Tennis
Scoop Malinowski · February 10, 2025 at 9:41 am
Note: John is a teammate of mine on the Suncoast Walton 45s division team though we have not played together in a match we have hit a couple of times.
Scoop Malinowski · February 10, 2025 at 9:42 am
http://www.suncoasttennis.net
Steve · February 10, 2025 at 10:45 am
Nice story. I bet he calls fair lines too. 🙂
Scoop Malinowski · February 10, 2025 at 12:20 pm
No doubt. The whole league is very good sportsmanship. Only one minor incident in two years, my partner called their shot out and showed the mark but they denied it was the right mark, it was on the sideline inside the service line. My partner ended up giving them the point but whispered to me with hurt feelings, “I never cheated in my life.” He’s a master coach and 5.0 and I know him for years and know it’s true. We won anyway 62 62 on line 2 vs the first place team. The league is very good, very good people.