John Karl Koch, age 82, of Manhattan, died January 2, 2024, at his residence.
He was born April 16, 1941, in Eureka, Kansas, the son of Karl K. and Frances Ethel (Brockway) Koch.
John was the agency manager for Manhattan Mutual Insurance Company and then was a life insurance agent for them for many years.
He was married to Shirley Jean (Biles) Lundberg, and they spent many hours playing golf together.
A lot of John’s life revolved around his love for golf, and if you knew John is was most likely through golf. He wanted to make his obituary interesting for his golfing friends and make them a little bit envious. One of his first golfing highlights was traveling for 16 years with three great friends, Bob Rowsey, Phil Woodward and Bernie Butler to Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill, Cypress Point, Spanish Bay, Monterey, Cherry Hills, Broadmoor, TPC Castle Rock, Doral, Innisbrook, two TPC courses in Florida, the Countr Club of North Carolina, Pinehurst and Hilton Head. He was also able to play Augusta National, Prairie Dunes, Mid Ocean Club in Bermuda, all the courses around Vail, and numerous other courses in California, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, Bermuda and Hawaii. One of the highlights of courses he played was Eagle Glen Country Club in Anchorage, Alaska, teeing off at midnight when the salmon were running, the course crossed the river three times and he had never seen the salmon run so they let three groups play through so they could watch the salmon run. He also played golf in Bamph, Canada where he had beautiful scenery and a lot of wild life.
He loved to play in the Colbert-Fogler Tournament over the years with Bernie Butler, Phil Woodward, Don Ince, Steve Graves, Charley Hughes and Joe Downey. John remembers winning the tournament twice in the regular tournament and numerous times in the senior division.
Another highlight was playing in the first million-dollar tournament in Las Vegas. It was a four day on four different courses with four different professionals. Professionals you played with were the luck of the draw, and his were Jim Simmons, Chip Beck, Al Geiberger and Jim Fargus. Al was the first professional to shoot 59 in a professional tournament, Chip Beck shot 59 later and Jim Fargus was the professional at Las Vegas Country Club. John was a 6 handicap at the time and shot 72 to 75 three times the get their teams in the money except for when paired with Jim Simmons. John shot his best with Al Geiberger when he shot 72 and had an albatross on a par 5 and three birdies that helped them finish high in the money. Al took John and Shirley to the Top of the Mint for dinner that night and Jim Fargus gave them a card the entitled them to free golf at the Las Vegas County Club when they were in Las Vegas.
One of John’s golfing thrills was due to a couple of very good friends Phil Berry and Ray Sadecki who was a starting pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals. For six straight years Ray took Phil and John on a trip ten days before spring training and they always picked up a professional baseball player for the fourth. Many of them are in the Baseball Hall of Fame of very famous including Tom Seaver, Johnnie Bench, John Matlock, Dean Chance, Whitey Herzog, Pete Rose and Jerry Kuseman.
John played with John Hudley in the Kingman, KS Member/Guest and won the tournament seven years in a row. He partnered with Phil Berry in the Manhattan Member/Guest and they won it twice and won the horse race once and they also partnered and won his Member/Guest in Kansas City twice. John and Joe Downey took second place at a three day/three format Kansas Golf Association tournament at Prairie Dunes in Hutchinson.
John was lucky enough to have five hole-in-ones, and one was for a new car that he gave Shirley.
John was very well known for running sports pools on bowl games, basketball, the World Series, major golf tournaments and the three big horse races. He ran the pools from 1963 to 2019 when Shirley died and he finally quit. He normally had 90 to 120 people enter and paid five to 10 places and paid back 100%.
John was also preceded in death by his parents and by his sister Carolyn.
Survivors include two brothers: Steve (Anna) of Bellingham, WA, and Bob (Kathy) of Wichita; Shirley’s son Steve Lundberg and his wife Paula of Valparaiso, IN, and their sons Shawn and Brant; Carolyn’s son Adam Peter of Anchorage, Alaska; and two nephews and two nieces: Josh and Spencer and Kayte and Sadie Rose
A celebration of John’s life will be held at a later date.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Manhattan First Tee. Contributions may be left in care of the Yorgensen-Meloan-Londeen Funeral Home, 1616 Poyntz Avenue, Manhattan, KS 66502.