Joe Iuliano was born in Ohio and raised in Burnt Hills. He played football and wrestled. Joe was a two-time Section II wrestling champion and never beaten in section 2 matches and placed in the states twice, the first Burnt Hills athlete to do so. It was at Burnt Hills he was coached by Murry O’Neil himself a South High Bulldog Pride Hall of Fame inductee who was very influential in Joe’s development as an athlete and coach. Joe came from a very athletic family, his bother Blaise was a two-time all-American at Ithaca College.

Joe went on to wrestle and play football for Central Connecticut from 1967-1972 where he would earn a Master’s degree in Administration and a BS in Health and Physical Education. Joe was team captain of his wrestling team and undefeated until a major knee injury ended his career. In 1967, he recorded the fastest pin in NCAA wrestling history, pinning his University of Hartford opponent in six seconds. The record stood for many years. It was at Central Connecticut Joe would meet his future wife Sue and have two children Chris and Courtney.

Following his college graduation, he coached wrestling at Southern Connecticut, leading the team to a New England championship, defeating long reigning champion Springfield College.

In 1976, at the age of 30, he came in second in the U.S. Olympic wrestling trials, just missing an opportunity to represent his country in the Summer Olympics in Montreal.

In 1977, Joe was employed by South Glens Falls Central School District the first year of a 30-year teaching and coaching career. While at SGF he started the South Glens Falls pee-wee wrestling program with Dick Stewart. Joe was instrumental in working with the town of Moreau in including the children in Northumberland who were in the district in the activities taking place in the town of Moreau.

In South Glens Falls, he was ahead of his time as a physical education teacher, including half-day kindergarten students and special-needs students in his classes long before it became the norm.

After coaching modified, junior varsity and varsity wrestling for 13 years, Joe retired from coaching wrestling with an overall record 178-12. Every year of his tenure his team were state ranked. He continued to coach at wrestling clinics around the Northeast until he retired in 2007. He also coached the defense of the varsity football team at South High. In 1980, his team won the foothills council title and his defense ranked #1 in section 2.

Joe was a charter member of the Adirondack Search and Rescue chapter and now has 27 years to his credit. They assist the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation on searches, over the years they have contributed to numerous rescues, and Joe is tasked with providing survival training for the department of conservation. For the last 5 years, Joe has volunteered with disabled veterans, helping them shoot skeet and trap and to hunt at Hidden Springs Ranch in Gansevoort.