WILFRED R. CAMERON

One of Pete’s favorite sayings was “he’s a lean mean fighting machine.” He greatly admired well-conditioned athletes and watching them perform.

Pete played all three sports for the East Washington “galloping ghosts.” He was the 125 pound fullback and the 112 pound quarterback was Bob Bruno. His third year, he played football at Shadyside Academy. His claim to fame was having “Woody Hayes” for his coach at Denison University.

He boxed in The United States Army Air Corps and continues boxing at the old YMCA and had the opportunity on occasion to be one of Sammy Angott’s sparing partners. He loved racquet ball especially if he could have a game with Joe Shook, Sil Passalacqua or Joe Hardy.

Over the years Pete hired a great number of high school athletes to work in the bottling plant at Cameron Coca-Cola. Their job usually sent them back to their coaches in great shape and with a few stories of Pete challenging them to wrestling matches on the production room floor. Additionally, Cameron Coca Cola was a strong supporter of sports in the community through sponsorship of teams, score boards and product donation.

Pete was involved in harness racing as an owner, trainer, driver and breeder. In fact, he holds the track record at Wheeling Downs. He raced his horses under the Cam name for over forty years. The well-known name Cam will be Pete’s legacy to the Harness Racing Industry.

Pete was the breeder of the great racehorse and sire Cam Fella who was the Horse of the Year in 1982 and 1983. Cam Fella was one of the most influential standardbreds of the 20th century. He was known as the “Pacing Machine” with a record 28 consecutive wins and retired from racing as the leading money winning horse in history. As a stallion, Cam Fella sired five pacers that won more than $2 million and nine pacers with earnings of over $1 million in all Cam Fella sired 1,002 foals with earnings of $94.5 million.

Pete loved Washington and wanted to continue to support the community that long supported him. He was able to fulfill that goal with the creation of the Wilfred R. Cameron Wellness Center of the Washington Hospital.