Bob Wolfley | SportsDay
River Falls legend DeLong dies
Nate J. DeLong of Hayward, once college basketball's all-time leading scorer, died Wednesday at St. Mary's Hospital in Duluth, Minn. He was 84.
DeLong was principal of the Hayward school system from 1957 to '70 and taught algebra there from 1971 to '86. He also taught in Durand and Elgin, Ill.
From 1989 to 2008 he served on the Sawyer County Board of Supervisors.
He grew up in Chippewa Falls and played basketball for Chippewa Falls High School from 1940-'43. He scored 605 points, including 342 as a 6-foot-5-inch senior, more than half of his team's 621 points.
But it was his playing career at River Falls State Teachers College, now UW-River Falls, which gained him national attention.
DeLong finished his playing career at River Falls in 1950 with 2,592 points, a 25.4 average, making him college basketball's all-time leading scorer at a time when there were no divisional groupings.
His career mark remains a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference record. When DeLong played, it was called the Wisconsin Teachers College Conference. DeLong, who was listed at 6-foot-6 and 215 pounds in college, also holds the WIAC records for single-season and single-game scoring.
DeLong scored 72 points in a nonconference game against Winona (Minn.) State Teachers College in the 1947-'48 season. In that game, he made 25 field goals (still a conference record) and 22 free throws.
According to a report, Winona put extra defenders on DeLong in the second half to keep him from scoring. But his unguarded teammates refused to shoot, preferring to "bank the ball off the board so the lanky star could get rebounds." He scored 33 points in the second half.
The president of River Falls in 1950, E.H. Kleinpell, realized that in DeLong he had one of college basketball's biggest stars, but not a gym suited for a big-time attraction.
The enrollment at River Falls was more than 900. The gym held 600, at a time the Minneapolis Lakers were attracting 8,000 fans a game in a city about 30 miles away.
"It almost makes me cry to think of it," Kleinpell said in a story at the time about not having a bigger gym to showcase DeLong. "It's like trying to show the Kohinoor diamond and other treasures to the public in a telephone booth."
Between April 1944 and June 1946 DeLong served in the Navy as a signalman on the USS Valencia in the Pacific.
DeLong scored 310 points as a first semester freshman at River Falls, but play was suspended because of World War II. After he was honorably discharged from the Navy, he returned to River Falls and scored 2,281 more points in his college career for a total of 2,591 with six weeks to play in his senior season.
But the conference had wiped out DeLong's 1943 semester so that he would have four years of eligibility left when he came back. However, newspapers and record keepers continued to count those first 310 points. They stopped counting them when DeLong voluntarily relinquished them, so as not to taint a career record with four and one-half seasons instead of four.
But even taking 310 off his total left him with a collegiate scoring record at the time.
In the 1949-'50 season, he scored 861 points, a conference record to this day. In that season he was the second-leading scorer in the nation, behind George King of Morris-Harvey in West Virginia (967) and ahead of Paul Arizin of Villanova (735).
DeLong was drafted in 1950 in the ninth round by the Tri-Cities Blackhawks of the National Basketball Association, but signed instead with the Sheboygan Redskins of the National Professional Basketball League, playing 45 games and averaging 10.3 points.
For the 1951-'52 season, he joined the Milwaukee Hawks of the NBA, and played in 17 games, averaging 3.8 points and 1.8 rebounds.
DeLong is survived by daughter Dian DeLong and son Nate W. DeLong of Hayward. DeLong married Donna Wells of Hayward on Aug. 21, 1948. Donna DeLong passed away on March 22, 2008.
A gathering in DeLong's honor will be held at noon Friday at the Lumberjack Steak House in Hayward. Interment will take place at a later date.
Call SportsDay at (414) 223-5531 or send e-mail to bwolfley@journalsentinel.com
3 Comments
Skonsin Lad - May 09, 2010 11:59 AM
couldn't pass that one up . And my condolences ...
The Humble Blogger - May 09, 2010 10:33 PM
have been nice to have a larger facility to watch this great player. As a
youngster I was fortunate enough to squeeze into the North Hall Gym and
watch this marvelous team.
DE
Whitewater
The Humble Blogger - May 09, 2010 10:34 PM
have been nice to have a larger facility to watch this great player. As a
youngster I was fortunate enough to squeeze into the North Hall Gym and
watch this marvelous team.
DE
Whitewater