Voices from the Past - Cliff Delong

By Rachel Mulick

Cliff Delong on October 3rd, 1951 from the UIUC archives

Cliff Delong, born in 1903, spent 1977 sharing stories of his childhood with the historians of Champaign County. Not only did he participate in a series of interviews with the Champaign County History Museum, he was also a part of the Champaign County Memory Bank project, which collected oral histories and newspaper interviews about life during the turn of the century. The result is a rich story of Delong’s childhood portrayed through personal stories and songs.

Cliff Delong was born in 1903 and raised in the town of Sadorus, Illinois. To Cliff, “the village of Sadorus, Illinois was the center of the world” and he had “no desire to live any place else”. The tales of his youth are certainly captivating. Laughing, he spoke about his shenanigans as a teenager: “On Halloween, we would perform feats that were simply unbelievable. I can remember one time that one of the agricultural implement places had a manure spreader, which was a big heavy wagon with equipment in the back of it, and we took that manure spreader, and twenty of us boys hoisted that thing clear up on the roof of an elevator, at least 40 or 50 feet above the ground, and on the morning after Halloween all of the elevator roofs in the country would hold agricultural equipment.” The mischief didn’t stop there- they would also tip over privies and barricade the main street with wagons and buggies.

Younger boys found entertainment at the train station. “We liked to watch the firemen fill the water tanks and the mail being collected, and see what the drayman carried on his dray to people who had ordered purchases shipped by train.” In the summer, boys who lived in town had a lot of free time after completing the morning’s chores, which for Delong were to “mow the yard, and milk, and work in the garden”. He and his friends would “swim and play ball and go to the timber”. They would also pack sandwiches and sit out in the groves all day, which he described as “paradise”.

On the weekends, Delong recalled how the whole town got together: “On Saturday nights, the farmers would come into town and sit along the wooden sidewalks to gossip. It was very peaceful.” The older boys were more active. “They would have a light buggy and a real handsome horse and you would hitch your horse up to your buggy and come to town on Saturday and Sunday nights, and they would go zipping around town in their horse and buggy, and you could take your girl out riding in the buggy.” Delong himself had a horse and surrey for this. The next day the whole town would go to church, and the Delongs had dinner guests every Sunday.

When Delong was a student at the University of Illinois he and his friends enjoyed going to dance halls. Delong himself was even in a small dance band. He explained that “if you really wanted the best place you went to College Hall. That is the building on Green and Fifth street in Champaign and back in the twenties it was very nicely kept up and really a nice place”. Delong praised Bill Donahue and his band, who played there frequently. His review was shining: “Never in all of my life at all the places that I have danced did I ever enjoy dancing as I enjoyed dancing to Bill Donahue.” In an interview, he even played some of the songs that he remembered from Bill Donahue- that recording is available on the Champaign County History Museum website.

After receiving his master’s degree Delong unsuccessfully sought work in Chicago. He returned to Champaign County to find the effects of the Great Depression apparent in his community. Small banks were closing, including one owned by his family. Those that remained took mortgages out on farmers and gave out unsafe loans. Delong recounted that “if the banks would try to collect from a farmer the usual way would be to get a judgment against him and the sheriff was supposed to go and sell the farmer’s equipment, and so for a while these sales would be scheduled and all the farmer’s neighbors and friends would appear on the scene with their shotguns and no sale would be held.” Luckily, Delong himself was not hit very hard by the Depression, which he attributed to not being married at the time and his university job, which had a starting salary of just $1,600 per year.

Soon after his return to Champaign Delong married his wife Helen. They had two sons, Richard and Douglas, in 1935 and 1939. Delong continued to work for the university and served as the bursar from 1942 until his retirement in 1972. He spoke extensively about his time with the university. Delong was especially proud of the fact that of the two billion dollars collected during his time as bursar, “there was never a penny lost because of dishonesty.” He also helped reorganize the patent procedures for the university and acted as treasurer of Star Course, a student organization that handled all professional concerts at the university. Delong said Star Course “enriched my life just tremendously.” He also spent 6 months in Washington DC setting up the Office on Institutional Projects Abroad for the American Consul of Education. Perhaps the most notable part of Delong’s career with the university was his work regarding indirect costs. He was on the editorial committee of the group that published the Blue Book, which was a set of policies that ultimately saved the university over 70 million dollars in reimbursement for indirect costs between 1946 and 1972. This led to the formation of the National Association of College and University Business Officers, from which he received an Award of Merit upon his retirement.