The Ithaca College men’s rowing team was formed during the administration of President Howard Dillingham in the fall of 1968. The first competition was on April 19, 1969, when the Bombers rowed against Buffalo, Buffalo State and Canisius. Two weeks later coach Gary Kilpatrick and team captain and stroke Tim McNell guided the Bombers to a victory over Manhattan, Canisius and Buffalo in the Metropolitan Championship in New York City.
Brief coaching stints by Kilpatrick and Bill Cromwell were followed by the successful tenure of Bob Tallman. From 1972-79 he built the Bombers from a fledgling program into a small-college powerhouse.
In the mid-1970s, Ithaca’s crews established themselves as medal winners at the annual Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia, recognized as the small-college national championship. In 1975 Ithaca’s heavyweights went 12-0 and finished third at the Dad Vail (behind Massachusetts and the Coast Guard). Two years later, led by Stew Leonard and Dave Pustell, the Bombers repeated the bronze-medal performance.
Ward Romer joined the coaching staff in 1973 as an assistant and has remained a fixture with the Bomber crew since. He became Ithaca’s fourth head coach after Tallman’s retirement in 1979. Romer’s arrival coincided with Ithaca’s entrance into lightweight rowing. The Bombers’ lightweights finished in the top 10 at the Dad Vails in each of their first 11 years.
A 1979 graduate, Dan Robinson, has been a consistent contributor to Ithaca rowing. The current men’s head coach, Robinson helped engineer the program’s move from the Dad Vail Regatta, where the Bombers accumulated four varsity and 14 additional medals, to the CICR in 1993 (renamed the Avaya Regatta in 2001 and now permanently renamed the ECAC National Invitational Rowing Championship).
The 2008 campaign was among the most successful in the program's history. The Bombers earned four medals at the New York State Collegiate Championships, including a gold-medal performance by the second varsity 8. The varsity 8 placed second in the grand final- finishing just a second behind Division I Marist. The silver medal was Ithaca's first varsity 8 medal at the state championships in 15 years. The Bombers continued their run of success at the ECAC Championships, as the the third varsity 8 earned the bronze medal, giving Ithaca the program's first varsity heavyweight medal at the ECAC Championships.
The Bombers have been well-represented on the international stage as well. Erik Frid '14 earned a 14th place finish in the double sculls at the 2014 World Rowing Under 23 Championships while Pete Orlando also competed against the world's best.
