That is FREAKY Les.
Tragic too... I'm sure that was a difficult couple of years.
I'm just gonna apologize ahead of time...
But I just have to ask this question and I realize that it is just SO wrong.
What happened to the MVP in year #3 ?
Nothing, it was just those two in those two years. But that was bad enough trust me. It was a dark cloud over that company for a time because of how people felt about both of them, and the award thing which was the big elephant in the room of course.
Here's a little extra to both........
When Mark was killed it was the night, more like early morning before dawn, before a company wide meeting. I always arrived very early to make sure the meeting room was set up etc. The VP of the company met me at the front door and told me the news and I was floored. He had known Mark since he was very young and you could see he'd been crying. Someone called him after Mark was taken to the hospital but it was too late he died a couple of hours or so after he arrived. He told me to get everyone in the meeting room and then come get him in his office when everyone was in. I stood at the front door of the office and directed everyone is and of course got hit with question after question because I didn't know what to say other than "go sit down in the meeting room Paul has something to tell everyone".
I got him from his office and he walked up to the front of the room and he broke the news. In a moment more about half the room was in tears including many of the guys and within a few minutes almost everyone was crying. It was harsh man let me tell you.
When Jason died Paul, who had known him for many years, couldn't write the note to send out to all the locations and he didn't want to call each one, so he asked me to write a note. I was in the store Jason worked at to let those guys know what happened. I faxed it out and it went to one store at a time of course as old time faxes did, and the phones just melted down, everyone was in shock all over again. A couple of hours later a guy who worked for the competitor across the street walked in to give his condolences, which was classy and gives you an idea about how good of a cat Jason was. Actually no it was the next day. At his funeral the pastor that opened up the service and delivered a sort of pre-eulogy said that he was amazed because he spoke to several people, friends and family, to learn more about Jason and it was the first time since he had been doing that where not a single person had said anything bad. That was the type of guy he was.
Sorry for being morbid........but the song thing sparked these memories and now they aren't depressing or anything because time heals of course and this was 1990 and 1991. But I admit I teared up a little as the memories came back.