WCCO Radio’s Sports Huddle program celebrated 25 years of Sid Hartman and Dave Mona as hosts last Sunday before a live audience at the University of Minnesota’s Sports Pavilion. Celebrity guests included Tom Kelly, Bud Grant, Jerry Burns, Paul Molitor, Tony Oliva, Lou Nanne, Glen Mason and Joel Maturi. Hartman told the audience it was a mistake not to have included female representation.
Mona said on Monday the event attendance was 600 to 700. Most Sundays the Sports Huddle is two hours in duration and Mona recalled that years ago the show was about 30 minutes long and had to leave the air because of a station commitment to air the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
In an interview Sunday, Grant praised Hartman for his integrity. “If you tell Sid something he will never print it or repeat it unless you give him permission to do so,” Grant said.
Grant and Hartman have been close friends since the late 1940s when Grant was excelling in three sports at the University of Minnesota. When Grant was asked why he chose Hartman, a sportswriter, to introduce him when he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame he said, “Because probably if he (Hartman) listed his close personal friends I think I would be No. 1.” Later in a conversation Grant added, “I didn’t even think about it. Sid was the guy.”