Curtis QB Rocco Koch lost his dad on a Caribbean cruise. He’s keeping his memory alive
In 2018, Curtis quarterback Rocco Koch was in sixth grade, on a Caribbean cruise with his family. They spent the week goofing around, putt-putt golfing, playing basketball, sightseeing, indulging in all-you-can-eat buffets and taking in late-night comedy shows. But on the last day, the family vacation turned into a nightmare.
Koch’s dad, Sheldon, was invited to play in a 3-on-3 basketball tournament. A natural competitor and lifelong athlete, he was giddy with excitement. He played well, making some shots for his team. Rocco watched from the sideline, beaming with pride while recording clips on his phone. He couldn’t wait to show his dad the highlights later.
After the games, Sheldon and his wife Sarah returned to their room, where Sheldon dropped briefly to the floor to catch his breath, before going to the bathroom and throwing up. Sarah didn’t think much of it. She figured he was just a bit out of shape and had overexerted himself on the basketball court.
Then she heard a thud from the shower. When she went in to check on Sheldon, he was having a heart attack. Sarah screamed for help — screams so primal, that she remembers her throat hurt for days afterward — but Sheldon died within minutes. Sarah held him while she watched the life leave his body.
“I whispered, ‘I know that you’re leaving,’” Sarah said. “I was very present when Sheldon died. … The (paramedics) tried everything they could to keep him, but they never once got even a pulse.”
A deeply Christian person, Sarah dropped to her knees in the cabin hallway and talked to God, saying over and over, “Our life is in your hands, Lord, our life is in your hands.” Their two youngest kids, Rubylove and Cash, were in the room when Sheldon died. Their two oldest, Scout and Rocco, were somewhere else on the ship, when they were called on the intercom to return to their room.
Rocco remembers walking down to the stairs toward the room, seeing a row of people huddled around the room.
“I looked in and I could see half of his body and people were trying to do CPR,” Koch said.
He dropped to his knees and bawled. When the paramedics declared Sheldon dead, they took him to the ship’s morgue, where the Koch family said goodbye.
“They pulled over the plastic bag they had him in and he was just green and blue,” Rocco said. “I gave him a kiss on the forehead and it was just cold. I was thinking, ‘this is really happening. I’m not dreaming.’”
YOUNG LOVE, GOD, FAMILY
Sheldon and Sarah met in college, both students at Life Pacific University, a Christian Bible college in San Dimas, California.
“It was just this instant connection,” said Sarah, who grew up in Tenino, Wash. “Sheldon was so interested in knowing God and wanting people to know the God that he knew. And he was really, really funny. You couldn’t go anywhere with him without this huge smile on his face. … He was just so loving and alive.”
They were engaged less than two years later and married in July of 2000. Their firstborn, Scout, was born in 2003. Rocco and Rubylove were also born in California.
A couple years before starting their family, Sheldon, who was a pastor, was invited to give a talk at Narrows View Intermediate School in University Place in 2001. It was his first time in U.P. Afterward, Sarah called to ask how the talk went.
“He’s like, ‘Oh, it went good. I don’t know what town we’re in, but I swear to you, we’re gonna have a church here someday,’” Sarah recalled. “That was so him. That was deposited in his heart.”
Still in the hospital just a day or two after Rubylove was born in the Sacramento area in 2007, Sheldon told Sarah he felt it was time. So a month later, with a 3-year-old, a 2-year-old and a newborn in tow, the Koch (pronounced ‘coke,’ like the soft drink) family took a leap of faith, packed up a U-Haul and the family Suburban and drove up to Washington, their new home.
“We had no job, not a real solid location of where we were going to live,” Sarah said.
They grinded, saving up money to launch their church. Sheldon took a sales job, waking up at 5 a.m. and making around 300 calls a day. He painted houses. Sarah cleaned houses and worked at El Gaucho. On April 4, 2010, they opened their church, Hope Community Church in University Place.
Sheldon was a natural-born leader and pastor. Some of the Curtis football coaches, who had grown up in rigid faith traditions, began attending and were amazed that church could be fun. Sheldon was always fond of saying, “No perfect people allowed.”
ON THE FOOTBALL FIELD, ROCCO IS KEEPING SHELDON’S MEMORY ALIVE
How Sheldon would’ve loved to watch his boy play at Curtis. Rocco, who is a spitting image of Sheldon, has a similar game, too. Sheldon was a 5-foot-10 — he would tell people 5-foot-11, though — physical running back.
Rocco is one of the state’s best dual-threat QBs and runs with the same intensity that his dad did.
“With my dad, once he had a thought, he would go for it,” Rocco said. “I relate it to my football instincts. Once I have a thought that I’m going to throw it to one of my receivers or just take the ball and run — in my mind, I’m not going to think a second about it. If I’m running, I don’t care who’s in front of me, I’m going to get over anybody.”
Sheldon coached Rocco in fourth and fifth grade football. He was serious, but gentle. On the field, Sarah constantly sees Sheldon in Rocco’s mannerisms. When he took off for a long touchdown run against Olympia in the first week of the season and had broken away from all the defenders, he threw his shoulders back the same way Sheldon used to, before striding into the end zone.
“His gait, the way he walks, everything,” Sarah said. “He has his dad’s kindness, his dad’s gentle spirit. Sheldon was very fierce. He was such a leader… He was very much like how Rocco is on the field.”
Sarah, now Sarah Koch-Schaapveld, remarried longtime family friend Timm Schaapveld in 2021. While he’d never try to replace Sheldon, he’s been a blessing to the Koch family and a loving, supportive step dad to their four kids.
“If I could snap my fingers, he’d be back,” Schaapveld said. “And that’s emotional for me to say. God did what God did and we’re here now, but I’d give anything for these guys to have their dad.”
Rocco, a senior, is keeping his memory alive in his final high school football season. He has a tattoo with his dad’s initials on his arm. He wears a wristband with his initials every game.
“He’s always on my mind,” Rocco said. “I’m getting the good moments of him. Now I have nothing to lose. In my senior year, I’ve never felt more composed and ready to play than in this year. Just having him there and knowing that I have nothing to lose.”
Curtis (1-0) faces Sumner (1-0) on the road at 7 p.m. on Friday at Sunset Chev Stadium.
