Joel Stallworth was inducted into the Warrior and the California Collegiate Athletic Association halls of fame, but the 2007 Stanislaus State graduate is much more than a successful basketball player or runner.
He’s created a business and has a family, guided by principles of love and forgiveness instilled by his parents and his grandfather, the late Bishop Lewis Stallworth Sr., who started Christ Temple Apostolic Church in Stockton.
When riots broke out in Los Angeles over the 2020 killing of George Floyd, Stallworth watched on television as demonstrators broke into his store, The Small Shop LA, and stole shirts, hats, sunglasses and other merchandise.
Stallworth shrugged and told USA Today, “If they have to burn down my shop to save an unarmed human from being slaughtered in the streets, if this is what it takes, if one person can get saved, then my shop has done its work.”
Many Black men who had ever been unnecessarily stopped by law enforcement or been racially profiled saw themselves in George Floyd, Stallworth included.
But talk to Stallworth for any length of time and his heart, filled with grace and forgiveness, the basic tenets and humanity of his Christianity, are on display. He’ll drop Bible verses into casual conversation. He doesn’t harbor resentments for mistreatment.
“I think there’s a verse in the Bible, that says ‘He looked at all of our faults and saw our needs,’” Stallworth said. “You may have a fault that needs to be taken care of. You don’t need to judge people by what they’re going through. You have to judge people by how you’re going to help them get through a situation.”
That wisdom has always been with him, but he jokes he’s been running from the family business — an uncle followed his grandfather as bishop of what is now Greater Christ Temple Church — and as a teenager, his grandfather tapped him to lead fellow young men as ‘Soldiers for Christ.’
Quiet and thoughtful, he led by example. His faith remains, but he has found other dreams to pursue.
As a young man with ideas, he asked questions and listened to successful businesspeople he encountered, so he was prepared to start his own business.
“I was creating hats with a gold crown called TKL, That King Life, inspiring people to live a life like a king; live a life that’s more than self and dedicated to people, to a higher being,” Stallworth said.
People would stop him and ask him where he got the hat, and that led him to create Lost in LA apparel. He began selling them at pop-ups before opening The Small Shop LA, a tribute to its 300 square feet of space that was looted in 2020. It attracted a variety of people, including NBA stars Dwayne Wade and Kevin Durant, and actress Gabrielle Union, Wade’s wife.
Lost In LA, currently an online enterprise, is derived from Stallworth’s post-Stanislaus State life.
“I got lost in LA for all the right reasons,” Stallworth said. “I love the ocean. I love the air. I got married here. I bought my first house here with my wife. Lost in LA is a positive brand and a way for people to talk about Los Angeles.”
He moved there when then-assistant Stan State track coach Troy Johnson took the head track coaching job at Cal Poly Pomona. He was training Stallworth and invited him to continue training and work as one of his assistant coaches.
Johnson also asked Stallworth to live with him and his wife.
“I don’t know if it could have worked with anybody other than Joel, because of how professional he is, how much of a gentleman he is,” Johnson said. “He had the right character, the right attitude, right demeanor, and was very respectful to everyone. We said we’re going to invest in him, give him this opportunity, and it worked out.”
Johnson had only known Stallworth for two years.
Stallworth and six San Joaquin Delta College teammates transferred to Stanislaus State together. His Delta College experience was frustrating. His coach didn’t recognize the skills he’d developed playing in the neighborhood largely populated by Bishop Stallworth’s 14 children and their families and at Samuel Hancock, a school the bishop started.
Stallworth initially went to work after graduating from Samuel Hancock, but his high school coach, Archie Harris, took him to Delta, got him enrolled, and encouraged him to keep playing basketball and get a college degree.
Stallworth played very little, finally having a chance to shine in the final minutes of the conference championship game, when he sped up and down the floor, scored, passed, rebounded and defended to help spark the win.
Then Stanislaus State Coach Keith Larsen saw how little Stallworth had played at Delta and didn’t use him much until he saw what he could do. He made Stallworth a starter during his senior season, and he responded by averaging 11.7 points and 5.7 rebounds a game. Neither college coach appreciated Stallworth’s quickness.
Stallworth wanted to run track after his junior year, but Larsen wouldn’t allow it. When his senior season ended, he went out to a track practice. It was his introduction to the sport.
“Physically he was a specimen,” Johnson said. “When he came out to the track, he didn’t have any marks, anything to gauge. We were doing time trials that day. My track sprinters were in spikes. Joel came out in three-quarter high-top Air Jordans and baggy basketball shorts. In that 300-meter time trial, my top sprinter ran 35.4 and I believe Joel took second in 36 seconds flat. I was like, ‘Wow, this guy comes out in basketball shoes and he’s a half second behind somebody who has track gear on.”
In his first meet a week later he ran the 100-meter and was part of the 4x400-meter relay team, turning in a split of 48 seconds.
“I thought I hit the Olympic A standard when I ran 48 because they were so happy,” Stallworth said.
It wasn’t a qualifying time, but it was a start. He got faster as the season progressed, and he learned how to run a race. He spent the following summer training in Turlock.
He enjoyed being at Stan State even if it was something of a culture shock from the diverse community he knew in Stockton.
“The people I was around, the friends I had, took care of me and made me feel welcome,” Stallworth said. “I love that place. I didn’t want to leave Turlock. I would have stayed there.”
He was close to teammates and classmates and had a friend in Mary Jane Cullum, who worked in Financial Aid and surprised him by showing up to his Hall of Fame induction ceremony with a Team Stallworth shirt. They’re still connected through Facebook. He also volunteered with Pitman High School’s at-risk student program.
By the time he graduated with a degree in communication studies — with the late Fred Hilpert standing out as a professor he loved because of his kindness and decency — Stallworth was a three-time All American (outdoor 400-meter and 4x400-meter relay and indoor 400) and still holds school records in the outdoor 200 (20.80) and 400 (45.40) and indoor 400 (47.31).
He went to Southern California to continue training with Johnson, whom he calls “an amazing human being” and qualified for the US 4x400 relay team for the Indoor World Championships in Spain in March 2008. He won a gold medal, but his joy was short-lived.
His high school coach, mentor and friend, Harris, died unexpectedly, and within a month, his grandfather passed away at 84. The Olympic trials were a month later, and Stallworth was not mentally at his best.
Stallworth continued to run after the setback and was coached by 1992 Olympic 400-meter gold medalist Quincy Watts, but after about five years of running, moved on to other ventures.
“What I did in the sport was enough,” Stallworth said.
He started his company in 2013 and also is a mental health worker. He met his future wife, a fellow Stocktonian. The couple has two sons, Samuel, 7, named after his wife’s father, a USC All-American football player, and 1-year-old Joel Jr., whom they call Dos, as in 2.
There’s more he wants to do.
On a recent Saturday, he attended a party for his former coach and long-time friend Watts, whose USC track team won the national championship. Later that day, he and his wife held an event at their home for fellow Stocktonian Michael Tubbs, now running for Lieutenant Governor of California.
“I’m looking for retail space and starting some type of media company,” Stallworth said. “I’d love to talk to people about life and challenge people to see different perspectives. Hopefully, we can get some good thoughts out, inspire the world and be another link that brings people together.”
