starting 95sl after sitting

I've got a 95SL that has always ran great. About 3 months ago the water pump went on it. I didn't know it was bad until I pulled in my drive way one day, and cut it off and water almost poured out of it. Since then I have let the car sit with intentions to get it fixed as soon as I could afford it. The sho[ I go to is literally only about 3 blocks away down a 25mph residential road, so I was going to fill it with water and try to drive it very slow the 3 blocks. Anyway, I went to start it up, and it just won't start. It has always fired up in just seconds. I did go out and start it up for about 10 seconds a while back, just to turn it over once, and it fired right up. It acts like a car that has ran out of gas, but there is over a quarter tank. Is there any way to get gas in the line like we used to do when we primed the carbs by putting just a dash of gas in the carb to get the flow going? Does anyone have any idea what else it might be? Thank you so much for any help you might give me.
John Sr.