Mark and Julie Staley at a Fighting Illini football game with their sons Alex (left) and Lucas.

The Staley Family Continues Its Philanthropy Heritage

Feature

August 18, 2021

By Mike Pearson
FightingIllini.com

Decatur’s Staley family has been a generous benefactor to the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics over the years, covering at least the last six decades. However, its historic and wide-encompassing relationship with University of Illinois personnel extends back more than a century altogether.

Founder A.E. Staley’s corn and soybean manufacturing company employed numerous UI-trained agronomists, chemists and administrators, and began flourishing as one of the nation’s premier producers of various plant-based flours, sauces, syrups and oils.

But there’s much more to the Staley-Illini connection than just kernels and beans.

In his autobiography “Halas by Halas”, former Fighting Illini athlete and Chicago Bears founder George Halas explained the relationship:

“In March of 1920 a man telephoned me and asked if I would meet him at (Chicago’s) Sherman Hotel. He said his name was George Chamberlain and he was general superintendent of the A.E. Staley Company at Decatur. Mr. Chamberlain told me that Mr. Staley was dedicated to company athletics. Three years earlier the company’s Fellowship Club had formed a baseball team around the great “Iron Man” Joe McGinnity. Then in 1919 the Fellowship formed a football team. It had done well against local teams but Mr. Staley wanted to build it into one that could compete successfully with the best semi-professional and industrial teams in the country. He had two objects, to stimulate employee morale and fitness, and to spread the Staley name through the nation. Mr. Chamberlain asked if I would like to move to Decatur to work for the Staley Company, play on the baseball team, and manage and coach the football team as well as play on it.”

“I don’t remember how much money he offered, but it may have been a little less than the $55 that I had been making. The magnet for me was the opportunity to build a winning football team. On March 28, 1920, I ceased being a railroad man, packed a small bag, said goodbye to Mother, and took the train to Decatur.”

George Halas

In August of 1920, Halas began assembling the Decatur Staleys. He signed Wisconsin All-American Ralph Scott, as well as Nebraska all-star Guy Chamberlain, Great Lakes’ Jimmy Conzelman, and a trio of players from Notre Dame. From former Illini teams, Halas drew Burt Ingwersen and “Dutch” Sternaman.

Throughout the summer of 1920, Halas worked out plays learned at Illinois from Coach Bob Zuppke. When he wrote various teams suggesting games, their replies were vague and indifferent. He knew that he needed an organization to assist in building the schedule. In September of 1920, Halas met with representatives from 11 other teams for a meeting at an automobile showroom in Canton, Ohio. Within two hours, the group of men anteed up franchise payments of $100 each and created the American Professional Football Association. The Decatur Staleys were now a full-fledged professional club. When the 1920 season concluded 13 games later, the players were compensated for each game played ($125) plus their weekly salary of $50 as Staley employees.

Halas coached the Staley baseball team in the Spring of 1921, then was invited to a surprise meeting at his boss’s office.

The Staley Baseball Team: Owner A.E. Staley Sr., pictured in the back row far-left, standing next to George Halas.

“George,” Staley said, “I know you are more interested in football than starch. As you know, there is a slight recession in the country. Time lost practicing and playing costs a huge amount of money and I feel we can no longer underwrite the team’s losses.”

After a 30-second pause, Staley continued, “George, why don’t you take the team to Chicago? I think football will go over big there.”

Staley agreed to give Halas seed money totaling $5,000 if he would continue to call the team the Staleys for the ’21 season. In 1922, Halas changed the name of the franchise from the Decatur Staleys to the Chicago Bears. The rest, as they say, is history.

Now, we fast-forward 100 years to 2021. Though the A.E. Staley Manufacturing Company brand no longer envelops Decatur the way it did—it sold its interests in May of 1988 to Tate & Lyle, a British-based multinational agribusiness company—Staley family descendants have remained steadfastly loyal to the University of Illinois.

In recent months, significant gifts have come from A.E. Staley Sr.’s great grandson Mark Staley and his wife, Julie of Springfield, and their uncle, Bob Staley of Crystal Lake.

Mark heads SB Partners and VLS Holdings, companies that specialize in private equity, and runs his father’s A.E. Staley Jr. Foundation as well. He also has been a member of University of Illinois at Springfield’s Athletic Advisory Board and has been a donor to the UIS baseball program. Julie—the daughter of Bob Heil, who pioneered sound systems for The Grateful Dead, The Who and other rock and roll groups—is a Springfield television host and producer, owns Spencer Films and serves as president of the Staley Museum in Decatur.

Philanthropy has always been very important to the Staley family, so Mark and Julie recently donated a major gift to support the Susan and Clint Atkins Baseball Training Center project. Illinois’ $8 million, 26,000 square feet facility will provide the Illini with around-the-clock workout capability. Mark played baseball all through high school in Decatur and at a preparatory school in Massachusetts, so America’s pastime is a particular interest of his.

Mark and Julie Staley were presented with the William E. Winter Award for Outstanding Advocate Leadership at the University of Illinois at Springfield in March of 2021.

Susan and Clint Atkins Baseball Training Center construction

Construction of the Susan and Clint Atkins Baseball Training Center began in the Spring of 2021.

“Being in Central Illinois, in a climate that doesn’t allow you to play year-round, you need adequate facilities to recruit effectively,” he said. “In this day and age, it’s all about facilities. If you can have an indoor facility in baseball like the one Illinois is building, you’re going to attract kids from all over. Then they can play all year-round. Our contribution to the baseball facility melds education and sports.”

Though Mark didn’t attend the University of Illinois, he says he has a lifelong link to the Illini.

Since I was a boy, dating back to the days of Bob Blackman, the U of I connection has always been special for me. Every time the basketball team is on, I’m glued to the TV. Central Illinois has always been a part of my heart, so to have this connection with the U of I all these years later is pretty special.

Mark Staley

In recent years, a large portion of Julie’s efforts have been directed toward producing a documentary about A.E. Staley’s rags-to-riches life. While sports was one of Staley’s special passions, the documentary will emphasize that he contributed in many other ways as well.

“This project is not just about the Staley family’s history," she said. "It’s about the history of the people who helped build that company and Decatur.”

Julie indicated that her work on the documentary will likely be completed in 2022 and distributed shortly after that.

Bob Staley, Mark’s uncle and A.E. Staley Sr.’s grandson, bleeds Orange and Blue as well. The first football game he attended at the University of Illinois was in the early 1960s.

“We had tickets behind the Illini bench,” he said. “Illinois won the game and I was an Illini fan from that point on.”

Born and raised in Decatur, Bob started working for A.E. Staley Manufacturing in 1977. In the mid ‘80s, he was awarded an expansion franchise in the Midwest League for minor league baseball. Bob targeted Champaign-Urbana as the community where he wanted to build a stadium. While then UI athletics director Neale Stoner was supportive of Bob’s project, the Board of Trustees ultimately declined construction because of baseball’s request to serve alcohol and place advertising on the outfield walls.

Nevertheless, Bob reconnected with former UI Director of Athletics Ron Guenther and began contributing annual gifts. His recent personal contribution of $250,000 to the baseball project is his largest to date.

Josh Whitman has a tremendous plan. With the new football facility that’s been erected, the renovation of the basketball complex, what’s going on with baseball and potentially hockey, Josh has a tremendous vision for the future. It’s great to be a part of a school like Illinois which has such a rich academic and athletic history.

Bob Staley

Read More