Albert Cornelius Spurlock was born in Huntington, West Virginia but grew up in Peoria, Illinois, where his father was a stationary steam engineer. His attraction to the University of Illinois was two fold. He recalls, "in our play in the neighborhood and at school we would try and emulate Red Grange if we were playing football. That was one of the attractions. Being the state school was the other. I could have gone to Bradley, but I didn't want to go to school in my hometown." Albert entered the University in 1932.