Joe Banks played his youth soccer as a captain for the very first South Jersey Barons Youth Academy team and was named the team MVP in his final year. He attended Edgewood/Winslow Township High School where he was a 4-year starter. He earned All-Conference, All-South Jersey, and All-Group 3 and 4 honors. He was the anchor of the conference winning defense during his junior year. As a co-captain during his senior year, he was chosen for the All-Inquirer First Team and participated in the All-South Jersey All-Star game.
Joe is a Drexel University graduate where he acquired a B.S. in Civil Engineering. During the ‘02-‘05 seasons, he was a 4-year letter winner and a 3-year starter. His career stats include 6 goals and 2 assists from the center-back position. In Joe’s final year, he was the team’s co-captain and was named to the Philadelphia Soccer Seven All-Star team.
Joe played for the Barons PDL team from ’04-’09 where he was a stalwart defender. He was part of the ’04 undefeated team, has been named to the PDL Team of the Week on multiple occasions, led the team in minutes in ’06 and ’08, played a huge role in breaking the Barons record for consecutive minutes without allowing a goal in ’07, ranks second in all-time minutes played, and captained the team during the ’07, ’08, and ’09 campaigns. He led the team onto the fieldin the historic Open Cup match against D.C. United in ‘09.
Throughout Joe’s playing career he has competed against players who have moved on to play in the English Premier League, French Ligue 1, US Men’s National Team, and Major League Soccer. Joe began coaching with the club in ‘07.
Joe currently resides in Cedar Brook, NJ, working as a Civil Engineer in South Jersey.
