Joe Corso won his first and only state championship at 112 pounds as a senior for West Des Moines Valley High School in 1971. The title helped him earn a spot on the Northern Iowa Community College wrestling team, where he was a two-time National Junior College Athletic Association Division II All-American at 118 pounds and helped the Trojans earn the school's first-ever team national championship in 1973.

In 1975, wrestling at 126 pounds for Purdue University, he became a Big Ten Conference champion and was named the Big Ten Tournament's Outstanding Wrestler after his dominant performance. He would follow that up by becoming the program's 23rd All-American with an incredible six-win run to a third-place finish as the No. 6 seed at the NCAA Championships.

Joe competed for the United States in the 1976 Olympics and was an alternate for the 1984 Olympics.

The 10-time national freestyle champion represented the United States in the World Championships in 1979 and 1981. Joe captured a bronze medal at the 1979 World Championships and won a gold medal at the 1979 Pan-American Games.

He was an assistant coach for Purdue, the University of Minnesota and Indiana University while also coaching high school, club and national teams.

He served as a freestyle coach for the Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club and USA Wrestling for more than 32 years was named the first-ever USA Wrestling Women's Coach of the Year for his work with the U.S. Women's World Team.