A Hollywood story of perseverance

Jonathan Koch ’87 awarded 2024 Medal of Courage by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame

A Shippensburg University wrestling singlet was put proudly on display this past June at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

This singlet is on display to honor someone who embodies the strength, will, and courage that make wrestlers unique.

Jonathan Koch ’87, spent just one semester on the Shippensburg University wrestling team in the winter of 1984. After graduating from Ship, he embarked on a successful career as a television producer before experiencing a sudden illness that cost him his left hand and right leg.

Having to fight for his life, Koch has not only survived, but thrived. This past June, he was honored for his strong will and perseverance by being awarded the 2024 Medal of Courage by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. The Medal of Courage is presented each year to a wrestler, or former wrestler, who has overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges and whose story provides an inspiration to others.

“All I could do was try to hold myself together,” Koch said of the induction ceremony. “That was very emotional for me to have that kind of a crowd appreciate me in that way, and I was very grateful for it. I wasn’t good at wrestling, but I am extremely grateful. It really means the world to me because wrestling has been the backbone of everything that I’ve ever accomplished in my life, whether it be my career or when I got hurt—being able to fight that off was wrestling 100-percent.”

Koch, a former wrestler at State College Area High School, found his way to Shippensburg in the fall of 1984 after he traveled to watch the State College Area girl’s soccer team in the state finals at Ship.

“We drove up there to watch them and support them and I loved the campus. That was it for me. I was planning on going to Penn State, because I am a huge Penn State fan and grew up around it, but I thought it would be good to get away from home.”

In the wrestling room, Koch described himself as a “workout dummy,” and his time on the mat was cut short when two of his teammates collided with his leg while he was planted on the mat, injuring his knee.

“That was that,” Koch said of his wrestling career.

He recalled vividly limping back to his dorm room at Mowrey Hall following that final practice.

“It was disappointing because I had been wrestling since I was five years old,” Koch stated. “As I was walking across the frozen parking lot from Heiges Field House in shorts and wrestling shoes I started with my head down, but by the time I was back to Mowrey I thought to myself, ‘this might be the best thing that has ever happened to me. Now it’s time for me to move on and work on my future.’”

During his time at Ship, Koch met his best friend, David Fox. Fox is the former proprietor of CJ’s American Pub & Grill in Shippensburg.

“[David and I] lived on the fifth floor of Mowrey, down the hall from each other, but we were instantly great friends. We got a farmhouse on Molly Pitcher Highway where we lived together from our second semester until we graduated.”

He continued, “I had a great time at Ship. I never was the greatest student in the world, but I felt like I was ready to go out into the workforce when I graduated from high school. But it was expected that you went to college, and I am really happy that I did.”

Following graduation, Koch headed west to try his luck in Hollywood. He worked as a talent agent for Full House actress Candace Cameron Bure, who famously donned a Ship sweatshirt during an episode.

A post-graduate visit to Shippensburg is where he first met his future wife, Ship graduate and former Slate editor Jennifer Koch (née Gunkel).

He later became a successful television producer, co-founding the production company Asylum Entertainment, which produced the Emmy-award winning miniseries The Kennedys and was eventually sold to a major Hollywood studio in 2014.

In 2015, Koch fell suddenly ill and his body went into septic shock, forcing him to be placed into a coma. He miraculously survived, but the loss of blood flow from the illness wreaked havoc on his limbs.

…wrestling has been the backbone of everything that I’ve ever accomplished in my life, whether it be my career or when I got hurt— being able to fight that off was wrestling 100-percent.

“I was the healthiest person that I knew,” Koch said. “I didn’t drink, I didn’t do drugs, I ate healthy. I worked out every day. Other than my time wrestling, I was in the best shape of my life. [The illness] just came out of nowhere.”

He tackled his recovery and the long, tough rehabilitation process head-on, drawing from the lessons he learned in the wrestling room both at State College Area High School and at Ship. His strong will and fight in the face of difficult odds is what garnered attention from the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

He struggled at first with being a part of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame despite being a not-so-great wrestler. He turned it into a reunion of sorts, inviting his high school wrestling coach and many of his high school teammates to the ceremony.

“I don’t really love being the center of attention. It isn’t something that I crave. There was a certain amount of trepidation I had about going there and being involved at that level,” Koch stated.

At the Saturday, June 1 morning tribute breakfast, several friends spoke on behalf of each of the 2024 inductees.

Later that night, his own induction speech inspired two separate standing ovations.

“I was incredibly grateful to have had that experience. My purpose in life is to make life better for the people that I love and care about,” Koch said. “Being around the [wrestling] community is incredibly special. It’s all really competitive, but if one person had a problem the entire community would show up and stand behind them. I love that.”

The Shippensburg singlet sits beside Koch’s old State College Area letterman jacket in his display at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

“I really loved my time at Shippensburg and wanted to make sure that the university had its proper place in my Hall of Fame case,” Koch said. “I was proud to represent Ship while I was there.”

Still thriving, Koch got into motivational speaking following his recovery and is still producing television, although he is less hands-on.

He has a production deal with Mandalay Entertainment and is still working with his old business partner from Asylum. He is currently producing a documentary and recently produced a Christmas special for CBS.

He does 1,500-to-2,000 jump rope repetitions per day and plays pickleball three times a week. He also played tennis, one of his loves besides wrestling, to prove to himself that he was back.

In other words, he’s too busy to waste any time thinking about what he can’t do.

“Surviving isn’t enough. I think if you go through something like this and the best thing that happened is you survived—that is a sad way to go about it,” Koch said. “My story means something to people and it helps people, and it gives me great purpose. All I’ve ever really wanted was to be a good part of people’s lives in whatever way that I could. This is certainly a strange way to go about it, but it happened, and I am grateful for it.”

Andrew Miller, sports information assistant