Sports mourns loss of columnist, 100
Commissioners, sports team owners, coaches and athletes mourned the loss of iconic Minnesota sportswriter Sid Hartman, whose impact stretched far beyond the Twin Cities and Gopher State. He died Oct. 18 at age 100.
Chad Hartman, his son, said his father didn’t die from COVID-19, according to the Star Tribune, “but COVID took away the enjoyment from his life by making him stay home. It took away the chance to see the people he liked. It took away his zest, not being able to go four, five different places every day and to laugh.”
Sid Hartman, who turned 100 March 15, covered sports for nearly 75 years as a reporter and columnist for the Star Tribune and voice for WCCO radio.
Hartman still contributed three to four columns a week to the Star Tribune, accumulating 21,235 bylines since the start of his career in 1944, according to the newspaper. He wrote 119 columns in 2020, his last column publishing the day he died.
Hartman was instrumental in bringing professional sports teams to Minnesota.
In his autobiography “Sid!” originally published in 1997 and updated in 2007, co-written with fellow Star Tribune sports columnist Patrick Reusse, Hartman includes reflections of the unprecedented access he had in the local sports community and recounts bringing professional basketball to Minnesota.
Hartman wrote that in 1947 he offered $15,000 to the owner of the Detroit Gems of the National Basketball League to buy the franchise, which then became the Minneapolis Lakers. Hartman was the de facto general manager all while continu
ing his journalism career.
Hartman left the team in 1957 and the Lakers relocated to Los Angeles in 1960.
When he died, his impact well beyond the local scene was apparent.
“Sid Hartman was a singular figure of the Minnesota sports scene throughout the entire history of the Twins franchise, and a friend to so many throughout our National Pastime,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said. “Appropriately, he was member No. 1 for the Baseball Writers’ Association of America at the time of his passing, as well as the organization’s longest tenured member.”
“He was an iconic sports figure, a tenacious reporter and a tireless advocate for his beloved state. ... He was a confidant and a loyal friend to countless athletes and coaches across the country,” Minnesota Vikings owners Mark and Zygi Wilf said.
For Hartman’s 90th birthday in 2010, a statue of him holding his radio microphone and oversized tape recorder, with a Star Tribune newspaper tucked under his arms, was unveiled outside the Target Center, home to the Timberwolves.
“I have followed the advice that if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life,” Hartman wrote in his column published on his 100th birthday.