In February of 2007, arguably the two most famous Minnesotans in the world met in Miami: Sid Harman and Prince Rogers Nelson.
The meetings of the two icons, which happened the Wednesday before Prince’s now-legendary Super Bowl halftime performance, wasn’t necessarily “meant to be” or even scheduled — it took a bit of luck and some smooth-talking.
The man who made it all possible, Vikings PR director, Bob Hagan, told us the story for our celebration Sunday of the “Sidtennial,” Sid Hartman’s 100th birthday.
As Hagan explained, that afternoon Hartman met him to pick up his Super Bowl press credentials. Hagan gave Hartman his press pass, and then mentioned he had to leave to work at a press conference Prince was about to hold. Sid said he’d like to come along and meet Prince, mentioning that the two had gone to the same south Minneapolis high school.
It was easier said than done. Security was tight, and Hartman didn’t have the right press credentials for access to the press conference. Hagan talked them through three checkpoints, each one harder than the last.
When they finally got through, Prince was almost to the stage.
"Prince was literally 30 yards away from us, maybe a little less than that, maybe 60 feet. and was just about to turn the corner to go out in front of 12 hundred people at this press conference. And Sid started yelling, 'Hey, Prince! Hey, Prince!'
Prince's security tried to intervene, but the musician stopped in his tracks once he realized who was calling his name.
"And Prince slowly turned around 180 degrees and looked back at where Sid and I were standing. And he parted the ways and he walked all the way back to us to greet Sid. And then they had a nice conversation."