Joseph DeMeo was born in Schenectady, NY in 1941. He presently resides in nearby Niskayuna. He has two children, Michael, 37 and Jay-Seph, 28. He graduated from Mt. Pleasant High School where he was an outstanding wrestler and went on to attend Cornell University where he had a career as a varsity wrestler from 1960-65. At Cornell he was a three-time letterman and had two undefeated dual meet seasons and was undefeated against all Ivy League opponents during his career. He also won a National freestyle championship. Following college Joe DeMeo began a long, illustrious coaching career. He was assistant wrestling coach at Michigan State 1967-1969, head coach at Stanford University 1969-1977, head coach at Albany University 1978-1995, 4-time head coach and 16-time assistant coach of the U.S. Senior Greco-Roman World Team, 2-time head coach and 2-time assistant coach of the U.S. Greco-Roman Pan Am Team, 2-time head coach of the U.S. Greco-Roman Junior World Team, and 4-time assistant coach for U.S. Greco-Roman Olympic Team. He was named National Coach of the Year three times and named USA Wrestling's Developmental Coach of the Year for 2005. He founded the Adirondack Three-Style Wrestling Association (ATWA) Wrestling club which produced 28 National Champions from the schoolboy, high school, college, and open division tournaments. At Stanford and Albany universities, Coach DeMeo's teams won 289 dual meets. At Albany he produced 47 All-Americans and eight times finished in the top ten teams in the NCAA Division III National Tournament. He also produced 4 NCAA Division III champions, and 11 of his former wrestlers made an Olympic team with two Olympic champions, Dave Schultz and Jeff Blatnick. Four of Coach DeMeo's former wrestlers became World Team Coaches: Andy Seras, Shawn Sheldon, Dale Oliver, and Isaac Ramaswamy. Andy Seras and Shawn Sheldon also became Olympic Team coaches. Coach DeMeo has received many honors. He's a member of the Mt. Pleasant HS Athletic Hall of Fame, a member of the Schenectady HS Athletic Hall of Fame, a member of the Capital District Sports Hall of Fame. He is also a member of Section II Wrestling Hall of Fame, member of NY State Wrestling Hall of Fame, member of NCAA Division III Wrestling Hall of Fame, member of Cornell University Wrestling Hall of Fame and member of Cornell University Athletic Hall of Fame. The New York Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame is pleased to recognize the accomplishments of Joe DeMeo by inducting him into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Joe was head coach of the U.S. Greco-Roman World team four times, and was a member of the Olympic coaching staff in 1976, 1980, 1988, and 1992. He was named National Coach of the Year three times by USA Wrestling, which named him Developmental Coach of the Year in 2005.