Stanley was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Jon Stanley and Sandra Haine. He has three brothers, and two sisters. His parents and grandfather Tom Haine were volleyball players. His mother and grandfather represented Canada, father Jon represented United States. Stanley's father played on 1968 Olympic Games and is a member of the Volleyball Hall of Fame. Stanley's step-grandfather, Tom Haine, was also on the 1968 men's Olympic volleyball team. His mother, Sandra Haine, played professionally for the Denver Comets as well as for Canada's national team. With Stanley's first Olympic appearance in Athens, Greece, he and his father became the first father-son Olympians in USA volleyball history. In July 2013 he married to Kristin. In March 2014 they announced that they are expecting their first child.
College
Stanley is a graduate of Kaiser High School in Honolulu and did not play volleyball in high school, as the school did not have a boys' team at the time. Stanley attended the University of Hawaii, where he majored in Spanish. Stanley was a freshman in 1997, but redshirted his sophomore year. He decided to forgo his 2000 senior redshirt year to play professionally. In 1999, Stanley broke Hawaii's single-match kill record with 50 kills against UCLA. In 2000, he was Third-Team All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and ranked in the Top 15 of the nation with a 5.53 kill average. He led the MPSF in aces and tied team record with 54. He finished his career 10th on all-time kill list at Hawaii.
International
Playing at the 2004 Summer Olympics, Stanley led the team and finished fifth overall in scoring with 110 points on 83 kills, 17 aces and 10 blocks. His 17 aces ranked second among all players in the tournament. At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, Stanley helped Team USA to its first gold medal in 20 years. For his performances during the tournament, he was selected as the MVP, Best Scorer, and Best Server of the Olympics. With the professional club Iraklis Thessaloniki, he won the silver medal at the 2004–05 CEV Champions League and was awarded "Best Scorer" and "Best Server". The next season he also won the silver medal and was awarded "Best Scorer". Playing with Dynamo-Tattransgaz he won the 2007–08 Indesit Champions League and also was individually awarded "Most Valuable Player". Stanley was one of the older members of the 2012 Olympic team that lost in the quarterfinals. Stanley picked up a knee injury in London and never again played in a major tournament for the U.S. In August 2016 he retired from professional career.
