Like most of his contemporaries, Sid Hartman didn’t start out covering women in sports, but he did shift with the times, and that transition was deeply appreciated by a young, up-and-coming player at the U of M from Hutchinson, Minnesota: Lindsey Whalen.
“Going back to my college career, one of the points when we felt like we had something going was when we had Sid at a couple of our games,” Whalen told host Dave Mona during the “Sidtennial” on Sunday, the celebration of Sid Hartman’s 100th birthday party.
She recalled reading Sid’s columns with her father growing up and getting excited over what he might say next.
“To have him come in and cover one of my games, that was really an honor. It was something that growing up, you just dreamed of as a kid here,” she said.
Whalen would, of course, go on to star with the Lyx and become one of the defining players of her generation. She’s since returned to the Gophers basketball as a head coach and is preparing to coach her second season.
She told Sid, Dave and Mike Max more about that in the conversation below: