1: Sid was born March 15, 1920, at 10:15 a.m. in Minneapolis' Asbury Methodist Hospital. He had three siblings — Bernice, Harold and Saul. • 2: Sid Hartman's father, Jack Hechtman, immigrated to the U.S. from Russia at age 16 and changed his last name to Hartman after he arrived. • 3: His dad was a deliveryman and could not read English. Sid never convinced his father, who died in 1972, that pro wrestling was staged. • 4: Sid's mother, Celia Weinberg, immigrated to the U.S. from Latvia at age 9. Celia ran a women's apparel shop. • 5: Sid said that his family ate chicken for dinner almost every night when he was growing up. He avoided it as an adult. • 6: In third grade, he heard a teacher say people should get jobs where they don't watch the clock, that the hours they put in don't mean a thing. That was his explanation for his workaholic personality. • 7: As a student, Sid played the trumpet in the school band at Minneapolis' Harrison Elementary. • 8: His first newspaper job was selling the paper on street corners in downtown Minneapolis at age 9. • 9: Sid sold newspapers and watched Bronko Nagurski carry the ball in 1929. Ninety years later, he covered Rodney Smith topping 4,000 yards. • 10: He made money hawking papers but lost a lot of it playing craps in back alleys. He felt guilty and didn't gamble again — more than 70 years. • 11: Jack Doyle's restaurant in Minneapolis had a gambling operation upstairs. Sid met all the characters, who all had nicknames. His was "Blackie" because of his dark hair. • 12: Sid's first newspaper gig was with Lincoln Life, the Lincoln Junior High student paper. • 13: He dropped out of Minneapolis North High as a junior and took a job in the circulation department of the Minneapolis Tribune in 1936. • 14: Sid had a lot of side jobs, but he was laid off from his circulation job at the Minneapolis Tribune in 1941. • 15: He lived the rest of his newspaper career worried that he was going to get fired. • 16: The first car that Sid owned was a 1929 Oldsmobile that he bought for $50. • 17: After a brief stint selling vacuum cleaners, Sid got a job in the circulation department of the Minneapolis Times. • 18: Sid got to know baseball star Ted Williams when Williams was playing for the minor league Minneapolis Millers in 1938. • 19: Williams and Sid became pals, and eventually Sid introduced a suspicious Williams to another close friend, Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight. • 20: Sid tried to enlist to fight in World War II but was rejected because he had bad bouts with asthma. • 21: Sid was hired by Dick Cullum to work for the Minneapolis Times' sports department in 1944. • 22: Sid told Cullum, "I can't spell and my grammar is worse," but Cullum said, "Writers are a dime a dozen … reporters are impossible to find." • 23: Sid's first byline in a daily metropolitan newspaper came in the Minneapolis Times, on Oct. 28, 1944. • 24: His first daily metropolitan newspaper column came in "The Roundup," in the Minneapolis Times, on Sept. 11, 1945. • 25: Gophers football coach Bernie Bierman didn't like reporters much, but Sid got a lot of his scoops from trainer Lloyd "Snapper" Stein. • 26: Sid and former Vikings coach Bud Grant were best friends. They bonded when Bud was an athlete at the U and Sid would take Bud out for dinner. • 27: In June 1947, Sid helped bring professional basketball to Minneapolis when Ben Berger and Morris Chalfen purchased the Detroit Gems. • 28: Sid, Berger and Chalfen moved the Gems to Minneapolis, where the team became the Lakers. • 29: Berger wanted Sid to quit his newspaper job and be the Lakers' general manager, but Sid wouldn't leave. • 30: Sid lined up local boxing promoter Max Winter to become the official general manager of the Lakers, although Sid arranged a lot of the personnel moves. • 31: "Those were the days," Sid said, "where newspaper guys didn't make much money, so there was no such thing as conflict of interest …" • 32: When the Minneapolis Times folded, Sid went to work for the Minneapolis Tribune. His first byline in that paper was on May 19, 1948. • 33: When Sid was the acting general manager of the Lakers, he helped the franchise become the NBA's first dynasty. • 34: To land free-agent superstar George Mikan, Sid was in charge of making sure Mikan missed his flight so the Lakers had more time to woo him. • 35: Sid was supposed to drive Mikan to the airport but went to Anoka, and Mikan never got on a plane. He signed the next day for $12,000. • 36: With the legendary Mikan, the Lakers won NBA titles in 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953 and 1954. • 37: Sid's first radio job was in the early 1950s at WLOL-AM. He did pregame and halftime interviews during Gophers football games. • 38: Sid began contributing to WCCO radio in 1955 and was one of the station's most recognizable voices for more than six decades. • 39: In 1957, Sid Hartman was named the sports editor of the Minneapolis Tribune. • 40: While he was sports editor, Sid wrote six columns a week. He still wrote four columns a week in recent years during the Vikings season. • 41: "I tried to outwork everybody," Sid said. "I never had more fun than when I was working." • 42: Sid left his job with the Lakers in 1957 after Bob Short bought the team. • 43: He got the business "scoop" of the decade in 1957 when he reported the formation of Control Data, a computer company in the U.S. for the next 20 years. • 44: Short moved the Lakers to Los Angeles in 1960, just as Minnesota was lining up other pro sports franchises. • 45: After years of behind-the-scenes work to get a Major League Baseball team to Minnesota, Sid and others were successful. • 46: On Halloween in 1960 it was announced the Washington Senators were moving to Minnesota to become the Twins. • 47: The NFL announced in 1960 that it would award an expansion franchise to the state for the 1961 season, giving birth to the Vikings. • 48: Sid's close friend and business partner Max Winter was one of five owners of the team. • 49: The Vikings' first coach, Norm Van Brocklin, nicknamed Sid "Cyanide Sid." The team's longtime trainer, Fred Zamberletti, called Sid "Cyanide" as a joke. • 50: Sid was part of a group that bought a 1961 NBA expansion team in Chicago, the Packers. They eventually became today's Washington Wizards. • 51: Sid covered the Super Bowl for the first time in 1970 (Super Bowl
IV — Vikings vs. Chiefs). • 52: Between 1970 and 2001, he covered every Super Bowl but two (1990 and 1993). He covered 31 Super Bowls. • 53: He served as Twin Cities rep to the Pro Football Hall of Fame committee. The committee meets the day before Super Bowls to consider nominees. • 54: He was famous for his insistence with committee members that they were foolish if they didn't induct former Vikings center Mick Tingelhoff. • 55: Before Super Bowl XLI in 2007, Sid asked Vikings media relations director Bob Hagan if he could set up a meeting with that year's halftime performer. • 56: Sid and Hagan got behind the scenes at a press briefing. "Hey, Prince!" Sid yelled. "Hello, Mr. Hartman," Prince replied. • 57: Sid did a daily show for many years called "Today's Sports Hero" for WCCO Radio. • 58: Sid's most notable "Today's Sports Hero" interview was when he followed Jets quarterback Joe Namath into a shower for an interview. • 59: In 1981, Dave Mona joined Sid at WCCO (830-AM) for a Sunday morning sports show that continued into 2020. • 60: Sid had a big scoop in 1974 when he reported Ara Parseghian would step down as Notre Dame coach. His source? Dan Devine, Ara's replacement. • 61: When Sid learned newly hired Ira Berkow, on assignment at the Kentucky Derby, had "talked" with Citation, he said, "He interviewed a HORSE!" • 62: Spring training reporters were puzzled as to how Sid would always scoop the Twins' final roster. His source: Ray Crump, who sewed names on jerseys. • 63: In 1994, Bud Grant was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. His presenter was Sid. • 64: Steve Cannon of WCCO coined the term "close personal friends" for famous people Sid liked to name-drop. • 65: When Sid Hartman called out to you, "Hey, genius!" it was not a compliment. • 66: He made a habit of sending thank-you notes to famous people he interviewed. They were sincere, and often resulted in him getting well-guarded phone numbers. • 67: Sid was known throughout his career for his misspellings of people's names. He called Vikings offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell "Orville Berville." Pay-per-view became "Paper View." Gophers assistant coach Joker Phillips became "Joe Kerfillips." • 68: He also had some radio doozies, including mistaking Olympic figure skating gold medalist Tara Lipinski for Monica Lewinsky. • 69: Once he chastised a radio caller by saying, "You're from Chicago, what do you know about Minnesota sports?" The caller was from Chisago City. • 70: Vikings receiver Cris Carter said he talked to God every day in an interview with Sid, who asked, "What do you talk about?" • 71: Sid's great hope was to see the Gophers return to the Rose Bowl, something that almost happened last year. • 72: Bud Grant once said Sid had no idea how cars work, other than that they need gas. • 73: Sid and Bud were driving to Superior, Wis., one night to visit Bud's folks. Flat tire. No spare. Remote area. Sid rushed toward a light. "Long walk, Sid," Bud said. "That's the moon." • 74: Sid had a Sinatra CD in his Cadillac. "Why haven't you been listening?'' someone asked. Sid confessed to not knowing how to open the CD package. • 75: Sid especially hated getting scooped by someone he worked with, to the point of telling athletes not to talk to writers from the Star Tribune. • 76: His chief "rival" was Patrick Reusse … but he respected Reusse enough to ask him to write his biography. • 77: Sid yelled at referees during games. He was especially loud when sitting courtside. For some reason, referees ended up liking him. Well, some of them. • 78: Bobby Knight was one of Sid's closest personal friends. They met when Knight coached at Army. • 79: Among other "close personal friends" of Sid's — Lou Holtz, George Steinbrenner and Howard Cosell. • 80: Sid's lifelong friend Al Rubinger died in 2016 at age 95. They were also business partners in real estate, and Sid considered him a brother. • 81: Al and Sid started their partnership by buying a lunch counter business in 1940 when Al was 19 and Sid was 20. • 82: Sid was married to the former Barbara Balfour from 1964-72. • 83: Barbara had a daughter, Chris, when they got married, and their son, Chad, was born in 1965. • 84: Chad went into broadcast journalism and now has a show weekdays on WCCO Radio. • 85: Sid had five grandchildren: a granddaughter and four grandsons. • 86: Sid hated elevators. In the old Star Tribune building, he always took the stairs. In the new Star Tribune building, he got stuck in an elevator for 30 minutes. • 87: The Baseball Writers' Association of America issues cards to members each year. Sid was No. 1 in seniority. • 88: In 2003, Sid was inducted into the media wing of the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., by receiving the Curt Gowdy Award. • 89: Starting in 1996, Sid was a panelist on the TV show "Sports Show with Mike Max" for 20 years, joining Max, Dark Star and Patrick Reusse. • 90: Sid was inducted into the Minnesota Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2003. • 91: On Oct. 10, 2010, a statue of Sid was unveiled outside Target Center. • 92: The media entrance at U.S. Bank Stadium is named after Sid, as is the press box at the U's TCF Bank Stadium. • 93: In 2019, Sid was elected to the Minnesota Sports Hall of Fame. • 94: The University of Minnesota had 15 men's athletic directors while Sid covered its teams, starting in 1944. • 95: In good health until his late 90s, Sid broke a hip and had surgery in 2016 and used a walker. He stopped driving at age 95. • 96: Sid had a nickname for almost everyone in the office. Mr. Shirts, Mr. Discipline, Mrs. Sporting Goods, Mr. Everywhere, Mr. Mortuary, Mr. Back Page, Mr. Internet, Mr. Whatchamacallit. • 97: Sid always greeted Tony Oliva by shouting "Mr. America,'' and then accusing him of having all his money buried in the backyard. • 98: Sid still made the interview rounds into 2020, especially at the U, Vikings offices and Twins games. He came into the office four days a week to write his columns. • 99: For decades, Sid used a huge tape recorder. Later, his interviews were recorded on iPhones, and he worked those transcribed interviews into column form. • 100: Sid had 21,235 bylines. If a columnist started today and wanted to match Sid, it would take that person, writing every day, 58 years.
