Although it changed with the years, Sid Hartman’s voice has been an iconic fixture in Minnesota sports for decades. I first heard Sid on the radio driving through lakes country with my dad. My dad’s hearing was fading, much like Hartman’s did late in his life, so the volume was necessarily turned up as we passed stands of sumac and frigid white-capped lakes. We absorbed the wisdom and insight gleaned from Sid’s close personal friendships as callers across the state telephoned in with their burning questions.
I wasn’t sold on Hartman because he had a radio show or a column in the Star Tribune, or because he began his journalism career at the age of nine. I didn’t know anything about him besides that he talked sports on Sundays. No, what sold me on Hartman was the reverential respect my own dad had for a man he’d never met. Dads are every son’s first hero, and Sid may well be the father of Minnesota Sports. With his passing, the essence of Minnesota sports has taken a blow.
You don’t know what you have until it’s gone is only half true. The truth is, we never thought we’d lose it. From every column in memoriam published across the country, it’s clear that Sid’s close friends knew exactly how lucky they were to know him. That didn’t make his passing any less painful when the inevitable happened.
Rest in Power to a legend that was a special part to so many Minnesota sports fans.
Conmy, Fargo, is a student of Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash.
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This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Forum's editorial board nor Forum ownership.
