Ithaca College Athletics - Men's Basketball History

The men’s basketball program at Ithaca College has been a model of consistency. The Bombers’ tradition began under coach Carl Chamberlain when the 1929-30 team finished 11-4. Since then Ithaca’s accomplishments include:

- 56 winning seasons in 76 years;
- an overall record of 953-713, for a winning
percentage of .572;
- a total of eight coaches (only one of whom
posted a losing record), including five who
won at least 100 games;
- seven NCAA and 13 Eastern College Athletic
Conference (ECAC) playoff berths and two
ECAC championships;
- seven league titles, including five outright
conference championships since 1971-72.

In 2006-07, Jim Mullins completed his tenth season as the Bombers’ head coach. He was the interim coach for one season and took over as full-time head coach during the 1998-99 season. Mullins guided the Bombers to their first ECAC Upstate New York Championship in 2000 and coached Ithaca’s first first-team all-American in guard Pat Britton. Two years later Ithaca won the Empire 8 title and reached the NCAA playoffs.

Mullins took over for one of the Bombers’ most successful men’s basketball coaches, Tom Baker. A 1963 Ithaca graduate, Baker returned to his alma mater in 1978 and led the Bombers to 13 straight winning seasons. He completed his 19-year career with a 307-191 overall record.

It took only four years for Baker to lead the Bombers into the NCAA playoffs. The 1981-82 team set a school record for wins in a season and was the first Ithaca team to win 20 or more games, finishing with a 22-5 mark. Ithaca earned a berth in the NCAA Division III playoffs, falling in the opening round to eventual semifinalist Brooklyn, 50-47. In 1982-83 Ithaca returned to the postseason. The Bombers won the Independent College Athletic Conference (ICAC) championship and defeated RIT in a one-game playoff, 49-48, to qualify for the NCAA tournament. The season ended with a triple-overtime, 76-74, loss to Potsdam.

Tod Hart was a top player for Baker’s early teams. Ithaca’s career scoring leader with 1,789 points, Hart set an NCAA Division III record for consecutive field goals by making 21 shots over a three-game span (he still shares the record). He was 10-for-10 against Clarkson in a 1980 game and two years later did not miss on 16 attempts against Rensselaer. Hart benefited from the playmaking abilities of Jamie Frank, who averaged 5.4 assists per game and set a school record with 488 career assists.

In 1986-87 the Bombers won 10 of their last 14 regular-season games to claim the ICAC title and an NCAA postseason berth. Playing at defending national champion Potsdam, Ithaca nearly pulled off the upset before falling, 57-53.

the Bombers. The versatile Hess finished his career ranked first in career steals and third in scoring. Vye, who played from 1983 to 1987, ranks in the school’s career top five in both scoring and rebounding.

Forward Steve Dunham, a two-time National Association of Basketball Coaches all-American, graduated in 1994 as a 1,000-point scorer. Also a two-time captain, Dunham was the leader of back-to-back 20-win teams in 1992-93 and 1993-94. In 1993 the Bombers played and won their first NCAA playoff home game, a 71-56 decision over Fredonia. The following season Ithaca reached the ECAC semifinals. During those years Ithaca also won two consecutive conference titles for the first time since the 1981-82 and 1982-83 teams.

With the NCAA’s adoption of the three-point shot, Archie McEachern and Vince Perrine set a number of school records. McEachern made a school-record 182 three-point baskets and averaged almost two per game. In the last game of his career, against Utica in 1992, he scored a career-high 32 points and set a school record with seven three-pointers. In a 92-68 upset win over national power Hamilton in 1994, Perrine netted 30 points on 10 three-pointers. During his career Perrine set six school records for three-point field-goal shooting.

Isadore “Doe” Yavits compiled a 138-78 record during 14 years as head coach. He coached three teams from 1935 to 1939 that each featured six future Ithaca College Athletic Hall of Fame members.

The next three teams Yavits coached were a combined 31-11; three of those losses were to East Stroudsburg. In 1940-41 Ithaca’s top five scorers—Charlie Baker, Robert Ingerson, Michael Lurel, Mike McKillop and Frank Urso—were future Athletic Hall of Fame members. During the 1941-42 season, Urso averaged more than 14 points a game. In Ithaca’s three losses that season he averaged 20 points per game. He lost his life in 1945 during the invasion of Iwo Jima.

Ithaca’s winning ways continued under coach Ben Light during the next seven seasons. His 1948-49 team was 16-5, with the losses against Syracuse, Iowa, Iowa State, St. Bonaventure and Cortland. Jim Hercinger and Ross Passineau were top scorers on those teams.

Carlton Wood, who had led the 1938-39 Ithaca team in scoring, took over from Ben Light as coach. Wood’s first teams were led by Alden Chadwick, who averaged 16.1 points per game in his career and set eight school records that still stand. Rich Slomkowski averaged 17.5 points and 9.9 rebounds per game in 79 career games.

Ithaca first qualified for a postseason tournament under Wood, earning a spot in the NCAA College Division regionals in the 1963-64 season. George Strickland led that team in scoring and rebounding. Sophomore guard George Valesente, who has become Ithaca’s winningest baseball coach, was another top player. Ithaca enjoyed a 12-game winning streak that year, another school record.

Hugh Hurst compiled a 106-93 record during his nine-year career, leading Ithaca into the NCAA College Division tournament during the 1971-72 season. Among the top players during that period were record-setters Greg Albano and Mike Williams. Each averaged better than 13 rebounds per game during his career. Williams once had 29 rebounds in a game; he averaged 17 per game in 1969-70. Albano still holds the single-game record of 45 points set against RIT in 1969.