Sid Hartman, the Star Tribune sports columnist who was still writing when he died in 2020 at age 100, counted Bud Grant among his "close personal friends" — and thought of him as his best friend.
Hartman often went to Grant for opinions and insights. It started June 27, 1948, the first time Hartman mentioned Grant in a column, a passage on what Gophers athletes were doing to stay busy in the summer: "Bud Grant is spending his spare time building a cabin on 60 acres of land he purchased recently near Gordon, Wis. Bud is also pitching for Gordon.