Happy anniversary: Monday is 75th anniversary of Sid Hartman's first story

In fall 1944, the sports department of the Minneapolis Times — a sister publication of the Minneapolis Tribune — was looking to hire an intern. Louie Mohs, the circulation manager of the Times, suggested one of his employees to sports editor Dick Cullum. Cullum agreed with Mohs' recommendation and hired Sid Hartman.

Cullum had Hartman, who was 24, start working on the Times' copy desk with occasional reporting duties. On Oct. 28, 1944, Hartman's byline appeared for the first time, on a Times story about the growth of sports at Minneapolis Patrick Henry high school, which had opened four years earlier.

Seventy-five years after that first byline, the 99-year-old Hartman is still producing bylines for a Minneapolis newspaper. As of Monday, the diamond anniversary of his first story, Hartman's byline has appeared in the Minneapolis Times, Tribune and the Star Tribune 21,086 times.

In spring 1948, the Times folded. Charles Johnson, the longtime executive sports editor of both the Minneapolis Star and the Minneapolis Tribune, hired Cullum and Hartman to join the staff of the Minneapolis Tribune.

Cullum continued to write for the Tribune until 1982. Hartman continues to write three or four columns a week as he nears his 100th birthday.