Joe A. Stovall is the youngest child of four of the late
Robert L. Stovall and Claudyne Stovall. He was born on
the south side of Chicago at Cook County Hospital on March
9th, 1964. His family moved to Champaign when he was around
3 yrs old. Joe grew up in Champaign on the corner of lst
and Church St. He attended Booker T. Washington Elementary
School and was one of the original members of the Boys
Club along with his older brother, Robert Jr. He attended
Edison Middle School and graduated from Central H.S. in
1982. Joe was involved in various activities in high school.
He was an honor roll student and lettered his junior &
senior year in basketball.
Joe attended Quincy College in the fall of 1982. He was
a member of the Quincy Hawks varsity basketball team.
Joe majored in Mathematics while attending Quincy. When
he recognized he was vertically challenged (Too Short!)
he decided to transfer to Illinois State University in
Normal. Joe majored in Chemistry at ISU, and received
a B.S. in 1988.
After graduation, Joe worked for Dow Chemical in Midland,
MI in their Technical Services and Development Dept. Joe
worked with polymer plastics for over one year. One project
he worked on was lining plastic cereal bags with Saran
to increase the shelf-life of cereal. This is now done
by Post Cereal for their various cereals. Joe worked for
Dow Chemical unti11989.
After Dow Chemical, Joe became an employee with State
Farm Insurance. He has held several positions: Claim Rep.,
Sr. Claim Rep., Claim Spec., and Claim Support Supervisor.
In 1996, Joe was recruited into the agency force. He became
an agent with State Farm in 1997. He currently runs his
own agency in Champaign.
Joe is heavily involved in the community. He is the President
of the Urban Business Network. He will become Board President
of the Don Moyer's Boys & Girls Club in April 2004.
He is an avid supporter of the Urban League of Champaign
County. He is a sponsor, coach and volunteer for 1st String,
Inc., Instructor for the Junior Achievement program, and
Mentor's through the Talks mentoring program.
Joe is married to Elizabeth Stovall. They have two sons,
Jamir-9 and Jamal-7. They currently reside in Champaign.
