Josh Bender | ORR Athletic Hall of Fame

Hall of Fame Plaque Biography

Josh Bender is widely considered the most dominant shot put thrower in ORR track and field program history. He holds the school record in the shot put (59’ 8.5”), was a 7-time South Coast Conference champion, a 6 time EMass Class D champion, a 4-time Boston Globe and 4-time Boston Herald All Star, and a 7-time Standard Times All Star. He won the Massachusetts All State shot put title 3 times, was New England champion his junior year and runner-up his senior year, was a Loucks Games champion, and placed 7th in the Indoor National Scholastic Meet his senior year. Josh’s dual meet shot put record was 42-0 during his sophomore, junior and senior years. He also threw the discus 156 feet and competed in the 100 yard dash. Josh was also a 3 year letterman in football, playing guard, tackle and linebacker. He was team captain, a 2-time Standard Times Football All Star, a 2-time SCC All Star, and an Otto Graham Award nominee his senior year. Josh is an alumnus of Penn State University and a member of the Penn State Varsity Club as a shot put and hammer throw athlete.

Original Hall of Fame Plaque

Original 2015 Hall of Fame plaque for Josh Bender

THE COMPLETE STORY

Expanded Historical Profile

Josh Bender established himself as one of the most dominant shot put athletes in Old Rochester Regional track and field history. His 2015 induction plaque records a school-record throw of 59 feet, 8.5 inches, seven South Coast Conference championships, six Eastern Massachusetts Class D championships, seven Standard-Times All-Star selections, and four All-Star selections each from the Boston Globe and Boston Herald.

Bender won three Massachusetts All-State shot put championships, captured a New England championship as a junior, and finished as the New England runner-up as a senior. He also won the Loucks Games, placed seventh at the Indoor National Scholastic Meet, and completed a 42–0 dual-meet shot put record across his sophomore, junior, and senior seasons. His range extended to a 156-foot discus throw and competition in the 100-yard dash.

Bender also earned three football letters while playing guard, tackle, and linebacker. He served as team captain, received SCC and Standard-Times All-Star recognition twice, and was an Otto Graham Award nominee as a senior. After graduating from ORR in 1997, he competed in the shot put and hammer throw at Penn State University.

ARCHIVAL MEDIA

Photo Gallery

Historical photographs, action images, team photographs and later-life images will be assembled here as verified source material becomes available.

Complete 2015 Hall of Fame display for Josh Bender, preserving the historical photograph alongside the induction plaque. Original photograph from the ORRAHOF archive.

INDUCTION CEREMONY

Watch the Hall of Fame moment

Watch induction ceremony →

00:32:30

Timestamp from the Vimeo description for the 2015 ORRAHOF Induction Banquet.

SOURCES & HISTORICAL NOTES

Documenting the record

The approved Class of 1997 yearbook portrait was standardized to the Jefferson presentation standard, with the original historical source preserved.

The Hall of Fame archive also preserves the complete 2015 display (IMG_1850.HEIC), pairing the historical photograph and induction plaque. That original display is included in the profile gallery.

October 10, 2026: plaque biography checked word for word against the original physical 2015 plaque photograph IMG_1851.JPEG. Printed wording and punctuation are preserved. Approved portrait and existing gallery retained; original files remain in the Hall archive.

The shot-put school record and other achievements are presented as part of the 2015 induction record, not as a newly verified current record.

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