Divers search river for father of Magic guard Jameer Nelson

[matrixone05]

Prayers for the family of Jameer Nelson. Hopefully they will find his father soon and he will be alive and safe.

Divers search river for father of Magic guard Jameer Nelson - NBA - Yahoo! Sports, Pa. (AP)

-- The disappearance of Orlando Magic guard Jameer Nelson's father has mystified his fellow workers at a Delaware River tugboat company, where he was last seen walking across a dock Thursday.

Divers, the U.S. Coast Guard and searchers with dogs looked for Floyd "Pete" Nelson in and around the fast-moving river Friday. The 57-year-old had been working Thursday in a dry dock area and was last seen walking toward a tug used as a break room, according to Harry Hays, the owner of Hays Tug & Launch Service.

The search was suspended around 4 p.m.

"We didn't see nothing or hear nothing, and the boys on the dry docks heard nothing, seen nothing. So it's a mystery to all of us," Hays said Friday.

Nelson's girlfriend and two sons have been on the scene, Hays said. Jameer Nelson arrived Friday morning and was seen speaking with officials involved in the search.

Floyd Nelson was last seen at about 11 a.m. Thursday. His lunch and car keys were found in the tug's kitchen area, and his car was nearby, Chester Police Chief John Finnegan said. Searchers were examining a 3-foot gap between the tug and the dock.

"If he was in that location and something happened to him medically, he might have fallen over," Finnegan said. "I can't think of anything else, unless he walked off, but I don't know why he would."

Nelson, a welder, had worked for the company for about a decade.

"His son wanted him retired, but he said, 'No way. I love my job.' He just told me that about a month ago," Hays said. "He's a wonderful guy. Everybody liked him."

Nelson, a Vietnam War veteran, wrote a book about his son's basketball career in 2004 entitled "Jameer." The Magic drafted his son out of Saint Joseph's in the first round in 2004.

Updated on Friday, Aug 31, 2007 9:35 pm, EDT

[Corals]

The family must be worried sick. Well more than worried. Let's hope they find him safe and well.

[Lediamand]

Yeah hopefully they will find his father alive.

[The Dragon]

Hopefully they will find dad alive but this don't look so good.

[Lediamand]

Police find a body that they say resemble Jameer's father they are going to do fingerprinting for confirmations.

[matrixone05]

This is so sad. Prayers are with his family.

September 1, 2007


Police: Body likely to be that of Jameer Nelson's father - NBA - Yahoo! Sports

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) -- Authorities pulled a body from the Delaware River on Saturday and there is a "strong likelihood" it is the missing father of Orlando Magic star Jameer Nelson, police said.

Floyd "Pete" Nelson, 57, an employee at a tugboat company, was last seen Thursday working in a dry dock area in the Philadelphia suburb of Chester, Pa. Divers and trained dogs searched the river all day Friday but the search was suspended around 4 p.m.

Police in Delaware said a boater called 911 on Saturday after spotting the body of a black male floating in the river near Fox Point Park in Wilmington. The body was recovered around 2 p.m.

There was a "strong likelihood" that the body was Floyd Nelson's but police were unable to confirm it, said Delaware State Police spokesman Sgt. Joshua A. Bushweller.

"We're going to do official fingerprinting, or a family member may do a positive identification," Bushweller said.

Floyd Nelson's lunch and car keys were found in the tug's kitchen area, and his car was nearby, according to Chester police. Nelson, a welder, has worked for the tub boat company for about a decade.

Jameer Nelson was a basketball standout at Chester High School and Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. He was a first-round draft pick in the 2004 NBA draft and is the starting point guard for the Magic.