The inimitable 96-year-old Star Tribune columnist Sid Hartman was formally recognized Tuesday with a luncheon to honor him and the media entrance that bears his name at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Former Vikings coaches Bud Grant and Jerry Burns, former North Stars coach Lou Nanne, University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler, former Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi, Minnesota Twins President Dave St. Peter and Timberwolves President Chris Wright, as well as Twin Cities media and much of the Vikings' front office, were in attendance, along with several dozen of Hartman's friends, family and colleagues from his decades in the business.
Among those who spoke at the luncheon: Grant; Bob Hagan, public relations director at the Vikings and Chad Hartman, the son of the reporter most know simply as "Sid."
Hagan talked about meeting Hartman in 1991 when he started with the Vikings and Hartman was a young reporter of 71. Hagan has set up many interviews for Hartman over the years and on occasion served as his volunteer chauffeur because Hartman no longer drives.
"Sid does not discriminate; he is equally critical of me as he is of the paid drivers," Hagan said.
Chad Hartman said his father will never slow down despite occasional entreaties from his family. "No one is more competitive than that gentleman right there," he said.
Grant, who has known Hartman since the 1940s, said, "I'm the original Sid Hartman's close personal friend." He talked about Hartman's dedication first and foremost to University of Minnesota sports (with the possible exception of women's sports, Grant noted).
In a speech recounting their relationship over the years, Grant mixed humor and sentiment. He talked about meeting Hartman for the first time with the columnist pestering him at a basketball game about where he was going to go to college. "I said, 'Sid, I'm in the Navy, we've got to win the war first,' " Grant recollected.
