| So long Jed. Nissan will miss ya.
Whenever top execs take a retirement, it always raises eyebrows. Did he really retire? Was he forced out? Did he just say, enough already? Make no mistake about Jed Connelly, the outgoing senior vice president of sales and marketing for Nissan North America. Jed is 60 and he truly is retiring from Nissan with full honors. Nissan says Jed just saw a good time to take retirement, what with the company moving its North American headquarters from southern California to Nashville, Tenn., and with a whole shuffling of top execs underway. For sure, Connelly did great things for Nissan and leaves of his own free will. After taking the top marketing post in March 2000, he got Nissan off the ruinous rebate game it was playing in the late ‘90s. He pushed lower sticker prices instead of gimmicky rebates in an effort to give consumers the feeling that they were getting an honest sales proposition.
Given to Fly: Blank soaking in moment with teammates, Gardner-Webb ...
Blank drew two charges against the Wildcats and also was the recipient of an elbow to the face that drew an offensive foul call on Kentucky. The former Indiana All-Star suffered a broken nose, he said."My eyes are black and my nose won't stop bleeding," Blank said, "and I'll do it again to see Rupp Arena clearing out with about 7 minutes to go when you're up 20. It's a great feeling."Before holding on for a 84-68 victory, Gardner-Webb bolted out to a 14-0 lead with Blank hitting a 3-pointer and a 2-pointer during the run.Blank spent Thursday like most other students at Gardner-Webb, taking the day off from classes at the small university at Boiling Springs, N.C., and soaking in the moment."We've been getting standing ovations walking into the cafeteria," Blank said. "They started like a pep session.
Last of the last
When he first transferred over to P-38s, he had no experience dive bombing with them and asked the other pilots how it differed from the bombers he'd been piloting. But he got completely wrong advice and on his first P-38 mission, he dove much too sharply for the smaller, quicker airplane and nearly went into the ocean, pulling out just 10 feet above the water as his plane kicked up a vapor trail. Another time, a large bomb banged against his gondola cockpit, warping it and sticking the gears. Ward was forced to land with his nose scraping the runway, and the impact when he hit the ground was so forceful that one of his shoulder straps snapped and the other shoulder was twisted savagely. Despite incredible pain, Ward flew missions for several more days until his captain sent him up to Manila to see a doctor.
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