As a non-funded team, it is a member of the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association (WIRA), whose participants are mostly of non-Pac-10 schools on the West Coast.

Notable alumni include Seth Weil (Class of 2011), who rowed in the USA men's coxless four at the 2016 Rio Olympics and who holds two world rowing championship first place titles in the men's four; as well as Carlo Facchino (Class of 1996) who has a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for the fastest Pacific Ocean crossing from Monterey, CA to Honolulu, Hawaii with a time of 39 days, 9 hours and 56 minutes.

Founded in 1977, the Davis Men's Crew Club was established under the guidance of Rich Sundquist, a former oarsman from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

In 1980, the crew received its first own racing shell, a wooden sweep eight, cut in half and driven from the East Coast on top of a van.

However, the club considers Orange Coast College, Gonzaga, and UC San Diego to be rivals as well, especially since these schools are members of WIRA.

In the varsity eight grand final at the 2007 WIRA championship regatta, Davis finished first at 6:03.8, barely ahead of Gonzaga's 6:04.3 and UC San Diego's 6:05.7.