Harlan Gustafson
American football player, baseball player (1917-1984)
Harlan Iver Gustafson (December 29, 1917 – April 18, 1984) was an American football player.
Gustafson was born in Joliet, Illinois, and attended the University of Pennsylvania. He played college football for the Penn Quakers football team and was selected by the International News Service as a first-team end on the 1939 College Football All-America Team. He also played baseball for Penn in 1940, compiling a .402 batting average.
Gustafson played professional football in the American Football League for the New York Yankees during the 1940 season and was selected by the league's coaches as a first-team end on the 1940 All-League team.
Gustafson joined the Naval Reserve in Philadelphia in March 1941. He began active duty in the United States Navy in December 1941 and served as a Navy pilot through October 1945. He was rescued after making a forced landing in the Pacific Ocean in early 1944.
Gustafson died in 1984 in Los Angeles, California, at age 66.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Harlan Gustafson” as american football player, baseball player (1917-1984). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american football player, baseball player (1917-1984). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 30, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q19282218. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1917, 1984, 1939 and 1940.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Harlan Gustafson”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Harlan Gustafson primary sources, Harlan Gustafson archive and Harlan research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Harlan Gustafson”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Harlan Gustafson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.