Visitation for Koch will take place Tuesday, March 28 from noon to 8 p.m. at the UW-Parkside Sports and Activity Center, located off County Highway E on Inner Loop Road in Kenosha. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Wednesday, March 29 at 11:00 a.m. in the Alfred A. De Simone Gymnasium at UW-Parkside, 900 Wood Road. Private burial will take place in Sunset Ridge Memorial Park.
Jim KochBorn in Milbank, S.D. on July 16, 1947, James P. Koch played football at Milbank High School until the school started a wrestling program when he was a junior. As a senior Koch was captain and MVP of this team and finished 23-1-1. He then moved on to South Dakota State University where he served as co-captain, and assisted his team to a third-place national finish. After graduating with honors from SDSU in 1969, Koch served one season as a graduate assistant at his college alma mater. In 1970 Koch headed east to become the first wrestling coach at Wisconsin-Parkside where he remained until his retirement in 2011. During his 41-year tenure, Koch coached 128 All Americans and 80 Academic All-Americans. His teams won 277 dual meet victories and finished in the top 10 at the NCAA Division II level 23 seasons.
Koch received many coaching awards over the course of his four-decade career. In 1971 he was selected rookie national coach of the year by Amateur Wrestling News. He was named Wisconsin/Midwest Regional Coach of the year ten times. Koch was inducted into six Halls of Fame: NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) Wrestling, NCAA Division II Wrestling, UW-Parkside, George Martin Wrestling, NAIA District 14 Wrestling and National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. In 2003 Koch earned perhaps his most prestigious honor, receiving the Lifetime Service Award from the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Koch also served wrestling in many leadership capacities, serving as presidents of both the NAIA and NCAA II Wrestling Coaches Association, and as chairman of both organizations' Hall of Fame selection committees. Only two weeks ago the Division II Wrestling Coaches' Association renamed its hall of fame the Jim Koch Division II Wrestling Hall of Fame. Last year UW-Parkside renamed its Wisconsin Open wrestling tournament the Jim Koch Open.
Koch is survived by three brothers, Charles (Dorothy) of Milbank, SD, Dan (Betsy) of Sioux Falls, SD and twin, John (Dianne) of St. Cloud, MN; 12 nieces and nephews, their children and grandchildren; and Donna Namath, who is described in his funeral home obituary as "the love of his life, who became his constant companion and confidante over his last 14 years, and expanded his worldview and enriched his life."
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