Joe Tubman was a fixture on the Ottawa football scene for over two decades. He was born in New Edinburgh, which is now part of the city of Ottawa. After high school, he spent one week working for the Ottawa Journal, before joining the Grand Trunk Railroad. Tubman spent 50 years working with the Grand Trunk and later CN Railways before retiring in 1963. But his initial stint with the railway was interrupted by the First World War. Tubman enlisted in 1916, not long after his 19th birthday, in the 72nd Queen's Battery at Kingston and he played football and hockey for the battery before being shipped overseas in 1917. He returned in 1919 to resume his work with the Grand Trunk and continue his athletic career. Tubman played one football game in 1919 with a team in the Ottawa Senior City League before jumping to the Rough Riders of the Inter-provincial Rugby Football Union (IRFU, or Big Four). Tubman was the centerpiece of the Ottawa team for the next eleven seasons as a kicker and fullback. The best years came in 1925 and 1926 when, under coach "Silver" Quilty, the Senators (briefly renamed after a merger between the Rough Riders and Ottawa's other team, St. Brigid's) won back-to-back Grey Cup championships. Tubman was a captain of both these teams. Tubman was an all-around athlete and played lacrosse, baseball, golf, and lawn bowling in local city competitions. He was also an outstanding paddler for the New Edinburgh Canoe Club, winning local singles championships and representing the club in the senior tandem event at the 1915 Canadian championships. After his football career was over, Tubman worked as a referee both in the Big Four and the Ontario Rugby Football Union for 15 years before retiring in 1944.