Elson James Harkema (born June 25, 1942) is an American former college football player and coach.
He then matriculated at Kalamazoo College, where earned a total of ten varsity letters in those same three sports, and graduated in 1964 with a major in economics and a minor in physical education.
[2] In the 1978 season, his team qualified for the NAIA Football National Championship and won their quarterfinal playoff game against Wisconsin–La Crosse, but lost in the semifinals against Elon.
[6] Beginning in 1986, Harkema led the team to four consecutive winning seasons,[7] including Eastern's only Mid-American Conference championship and only 10-win season[8] in 1987, when the team went to the 1987 California Bowl and upset 17½ point favorite San Jose State University for the only bowl game win in school history.
[9] Harkema is credited with building the program at Eastern Michigan into a "Top-Shelf" program,[10] and he coached one of just two EMU games at Rynearson Stadium that sold-out: a 24–31 loss to Western Michigan on October 22, 1988 drew 23,003 (listed capacity at the time was 22,227), and a 0–0 tie against Eastern Kentucky on October 16, 1971 drew 17,360 (listed capacity at the time was 15,500).