Team History
Early Years
The history of the RIT bowling club goes back a long way. While we do not have many records from the team’s early years, we do know that the team existed since at least the 1960s as a varsity sport. Helen Smith was the head coach during this time, guiding the program to a second place finish at the 1975 intercollegiate bowling championship. Two years later, in 1977, the team finished seventh at the championship. Sometime in the 1970s or 1980s, the RIT bowling team dropped to club status. In 1991, the team won the New York State Association of College Union International (ACUI) championship. From 1968 until 1994, the RIT campus was even home to small bowling alley in the basement of the Student Alumni Union.
Recent Years
After going a season without a team in 2001-02, the club was restarted by Tom DiPietro. Tom would go on to compete with the team for three seasons before graduating in 2005. He served as a coach from 2005 to 2017. The team has finished ranked among the top 25 teams in seven seasons since 2002, and has qualified for the national championship (the USBC Intercollegiate Team Championships) a total of nine times, including five out of six seasons between 2009 and 2014.
RIT’s campus used to have a bowling alley in the basement of the Student Alumni Union.
National Championship Appearances
- 1975: 2nd Place
- 1977: 7th Place
- 1999: Unknown
- 2009: 3rd-4th Place
- 2010: 5th-6th Place
- 2011: 13th-16th Place
- 2012: 13th-16th Place
- 2014: 9th-12th Place
- 2019: 7th-8th Place