J. Paul Binnebose

Early in his pairs career, Binnebose competed with Sara Ward. They placed ninth at the 1994 World Junior Championships in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He and his next partner, Jacki Davidson, won the junior bronze medal at the 1996 U.S. Championships.

By the 1997–98 season, Binnebose was competing with Laura Lynn Handy. The pair won the 1997 Nebelhorn Trophy and finished sixth at the 1998 U.S. Championships. In the 1998–99 season, Handy/Binnebose won the silver medal at the 1999 World Junior Championships and senior bronze at the 1999 U.S. Championships. They withdrew from the 1999 World Championships because Binnebose had the flu.[1]

On September 29, 1999, Binnebose fell while lifting Handy and hit his head on the ice, suffering a skull fracture and brain injury.[1][2] He had emergency brain surgery and was put in an induced coma.[2][3] His heart also stopped twice but he was brought back and gradually began to recover.[2] Binnebose was released from hospital on November 30, 1999.[1] His accident and recovery was featured on the Discovery Health Channel television series Impact: Stories of Survival. As of 2010, he continued to suffer facial paralysis and other effects of the injury but had returned to the ice and was teaching skating.[2]

Binnebose has worked with numerous nonprofit organizations including Feed America and a monthly residual program he started in 2014 through a franchise company, ACN, INC.[4]

Binnebose married a fellow skater, with whom he has two sons, Ethan and Eli.[2][5] He was divorced in 2013 and later married his longtime friend, Crystal Hess-Binnebose. He has a daughter, Eléora, from his second marriage and a stepdaughter Enya. The family lives in WI and CO.