The Davidson College Crew Team began with Frank Crawley, who in 1990 acquired the team’s first shell from the then disbanding University of North Carolina Charlotte Crew Team. This wooden shell, called Schneidawitz, was a far cry from today’s sleek racing shells. Up to this point, UNCC used the Davidson College Lake Campus to launch their own club crew team. When the team disbanded, Frank Crawley and the Davidson Crew’s original members adopted the outdoor racks, which are still used by the Lake Campus today, to store their shell.

About two years later, two students–Josh Peklo ’97 and Jay Hinton ’97–took over the leadership of the crew. Hinton was an experienced rower from a well-established program in Edge Water, outside Orlando, Florida, and became the team’s first official coach. Peklo became president of the club. Through fundraising and the college's athletic department, Peklo expanded the team’s equipment. The team soon bought eight spoons with black shafts from Hinton’s high school for an astounding $50 apiece. Today an inexpensive oar costs about $250. Together, the team sanded and smoothed out the blades, which Peklo painted with Davidson colors.