Is It Any Surprise? Prince Was A 'Close Personal Friend' Of Sid
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- It seems everybody has a Prince story, so it should be no surprise that another Minnesota icon has one.
Longtime Star Tribune and WCCO Radio sports personality Sid Hartman met Prince prior to the 2007 Super Bowl, where Prince gave his legendary half time performance that many consider to be the best ever.
Sid called Minnesota Vikings PR man Bob Hagan, who was working PR at the Super Bowl, asking to meet Prince.
"[Sid] calls me, and says 'Hey, I'd like to come over and talk to that Prince guy,'" Hagan said. "He's acting like I can make this happen, like it's setting up an interview with our third-string quarterback."
Hagan says he agreed to take Sid behind the scenes before Prince held a press conference, but he was doubtful they would get a chance to meet.
Hagan had a pass to get backstage, but Sid did not, and they ran into some hassle from security.
"I said [to security], 'Listen, you don't know me and you don't know [Sid]. But in our state, Sid is probably the biggest name behind Prince."
Hagan said it worked, and they got backstage just as Prince was walking with his security toward the press conference.
In true Sid Hartman style, he yelled out "Hey, Prince!"
According to Hagan, Prince turned around and recognized Sid, and instructed his security to let him through.
The two Minnesota legends ended up talking for three or four minutes, as the story goes, making Prince late for his news conference.
"He wanted to talk about who I thought was going to win [the Super Bowl]," Sid said. "Then we talked about North High School. It was only about five minutes I think, but it seemed like two hours."
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