For Marion native Jeffrey Pina, the road to success began on the fields of Old Rochester High School.

As the Bulldog alum is inducted into ORR’s Athletic Hall of Fame this year, he says his position as a senior executive in the Fortune 500 company Avery Denison has much to do with the lessons he learned in high school.

“At Boston University, I got a lot of professional training, but it all started with Old Rochester helping me to dream dreams and work hard. If you put those together, you’ll be successful,” said Pina.

From 1973 to 1977, Pina ruled the school’s sports scene, playing football, basketball and track each year and earning 12 varsity letters.

“That’s one thing I loved about ORR — it’s a small enough school where you could play all three sports,” said Pina. “There were really great opportunities to prove yourself, to engage.”

During his high school career, Pina won the varsity Most Dedicated Award in his freshman year, All-Conference his sophomore, junior and senior years as well as leadership awards.

“Very early on I just enjoyed the competition, the physical aspect of sports. I loved the teams and the camaraderie I had with teammates.”

Pina said the school’s coaches were also a draw for him. “They really were committed. They knew what they were doing,” he said.

While sports helped him relax from challenging schoolwork, Pina said they also helped him to focus in the classroom.

“Achievement for me was a big focus. Achieve on the field and then in the classroom.”

As a leader on his teams, Pina helped to guide the Bulldogs to an undefeated football season his senior year and Conference Championships in basketball and track.

Although the teams barely missed State Championships, Pina said the skills he developed at ORR took him to Boston University, where he played football until sustaining a serious injury.

“I asked myself, ‘Do I really want to play pro football?” said Pina. Instead, he adjusted his focus to his “second love” of communications.

“I’ve been a senior executive for a fortune 500 company for 15 years,” he said. “ORR catapulted me into leadership.”

Now a resident of California, Pina will fly in to accept his Hall of Fame award, along with his wife and children.

“I really am honored to not only be selected but to represent Old Rochester. I have a lot of great memories there and a lot of success,” he said.

Other inductees this year include the undefeated 1965 Old Rochester Football Team, long jump record holder Margaret Liljedahl, SCC All-Star Tricia Bradley and former track coach Joao Rodriques, who led his teams to 343 track victories and 16 SCC championships.