Abe Pollin
Abe Pollin (1923 - 2009) was Chairman and CEO of Washington Sports and Entertainment Limited Partnership (WSELP), longtime owner of the Washington Wizards basketball team and the Washington Capitals hockey franchise. A building contractor and real estate developer, as well as a sportsman and philanthropist, he built two state-of-the-art multi-million dollar sports facilities, the Capital Centre, in Landover, Maryland, near Washington, D.C., and the Verizon Centre in the heart of downtown. Washington. Pollin moved to Washington with his family from Philadelphia at the age of eight. After graduating from George Washington University in Washington, he worked for his family's construction business for 12 years, before starting a company of his own. In 1964, Pollin and two partners purchased the Baltimore Bullets basketball team. Four years later, he became the team's sole owner. He moved the Bullets to Washington in 1973 and secured a National Hockey League expansion franchise for Washingt