Upper Iowa University Athletics Hall of Fame
Joe Stasi was inducted into the Upper Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame as a special recognition. Stasi graduated from Upper Iowa in 1991 and earned six varsity letters with the Peacock football and baseball teams from 1988 through 1990. The Oelwein, Iowa native graduated with a degree in public administration.
A four-sport standout at Oelwein High School, Stasi also served as the Class President in each of his four years. Stasi, who competed in football, basketball, track and field and baseball for the Huskies, earned all-conference and all-district first team honors and was named to the Iowa All-State list as a senior.
Stasi was one of Rick Heller's first recruits from northeast Iowa to come play baseball in 1988. As a senior, he led the team in batting average with a .383 average and served as a captain for the Peacocks.
Following his graduation, Stasi worked as the general manager and sales manager for F.W. Woolworth (Footlocker) and Best Buy for combined 10 years. He began moonlighting as a sports radio play-by-play broadcaster in 1996 and continues to share his passion of broadcasting to this day.
Stasi has covered various team in high school football, basketball, baseball, and softball and served as the voice of the Independence Mustangs, Oelwein Huskies, and many other northeast Iowa schools during the state tournaments. He has spent thousands of hours on northeast radio stations like KQMG 98.3 and AM 950 KOEL providing these broadcasts.
He began hosting Friday Night Live from 1700 The Champ ESPN in Des Moines through a network of 24 stations across the state of Iowa from 2004-08 as a part of the Iowa Sports Connection Radio Group. Stasi was also involved in the 4A sports scene in Des Moines broadcasting on 106.3 KXNO from 2010-13.
Stasi started covering Upper Iowa football for the 1996 and 1997 seasons and then began calling all of the Peacock football games from 2003 through last season with the majority broadcasting on AM 950 KOEL. Stasi continues to call home games for UIU football as they appear on KCRG TV 9.2 and Eastern Iowa's CW 9.3.
After taking the reins of the Football Friday Night Radio show as host and sponsorship sales executive on Des Moines Sports Station 106.3 KXNO in 2014, Stasi pushed the show to its current ranking of No. 1 listened-to high school football production in central Iowa.
Since 2008, Stasi has been the Iowa Barnstormers play-by-play voice and Barnstormers Weekly radio show host after the return of the team to Des Moines replacing legendary Iowa Hawkeye/Iowa Barnstormer play-by-play voice Jim Zable in 2008 on 1700 The Champ ESPN. He currently broadcasts the games during spring and summer on NEWS RADIO 1040 WHO and hosts the Barnstormers Weekly radio show live on location on 106.3 KXNO. In 2017, Stasi was named as part of the Indoor Football League Broadcast Team of the Year.
Stasi, who is a marketing manager with Media USA in Skyway Advertising in Des Moines, has been married to his wife Tara for 24 years. The couple live in Johnston, Iowa and are the proud parents of their daughter Gianna.
