A 1960 Olympian, Beatty was named the 1962 U.S. Athlete of the Year by Track & Field News and the AAU, and he was the first recipient of ABC’s Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year in 1962 after setting 11 American (from the 1500 to the 5,000) and three world records and becoming the first person in world history to run under 4 minutes in the mile indoors. 

In college at the University of North Carolina, he was a three-time All-American (1955 and 1957 in the two-mile, and 1956 in the 5,000 meters), and an 11-time ACC champion, winning the ACC Indoor Mile and 2-Mile double three consecutive years, the ACC Outdoor Mile twice, and the ACC Cross Country Championship three times.  

In high school at Charlotte Central, he won the NCHSAA all-class state title in the mile in 1952 and 1953 and helped Central to the 1952 team title. He was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 1963, the USA National Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1990, the Greater Charlotte Sports Hall of Fame in 2004, and he was named one of the NCHSAA’s “100 to Remember” male athletes in 2013.