The greatness of an athlete is commonly measured in terms of skill in an individual sport. In the case of Joe “Beef” Cameron, it was his ability to perform brilliantly in a number of sports. This natural athlete mastered English rugby, basketball, boxing, and track and field, which were all varsity sports in his day. His coach Leo MacKenna described him as “not only the ideal athlete, but the ideal man.”

Joe Cameron was captain of the St. Francis Xavier University basketball and rugby teams, intercollegiate boxing champion, and winner of aggregate awards in the annual track and field meets. He was named the St. Francis Xavier athlete of the half century and earned a place in the St. F.X. Sports Hall of Fame.

His career as a professional civil engineer brought him the same type of success he had experienced in his athletic endeavors. Joe “Beef” Cameron was inducted into the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame in 1980.