When I was ten years old, my travel basketball team decided to compete in a national tournament in Orlando, Florida. Each player needed to contribute $1,000 to go on the trip. Since my parents had already spent so much money throughout the year on tournaments, I decided to take the initiative to raise the money myself. I wrote a letter to Abe Pollin, owner of the Washington Wizards, and asked him if he would like to sponsor our team. I did not expect him to even resond to my letter, but he surprisingly sent me a check and wished me luck with the tournament. I admired and appreciated his generosity greatly, which is why I have decided to write about him. He is not only known as the longest tenured owner of an NBA franchise, but for the great impact that he had on the D.C. community.
Abe and his wife, Irene, bought the franchise in 1964, when the team was known as the Bullets. They decided to build the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland in 1978, which was the new home for the Baltimore team. The arena was completed in just 15 months, and featured the first telescreen, and electronic ticketing. I'm sure most of us have never gone to a game without either of these two things. Although he was happy with the arena that he had built, he had always dreamed of having his team play in the nation's capital, which is how they became the Washington Bullets. In 1997, the team moved to Washington, and began playing at the Verizon Center.
Pollin was not pleased with the team's name because he felt that it held a negative connotation, because bullets are used in guns. He did not want his team to promote violence, which is why he held a vote for the new team name. Fans voted on the new name, which is how they became the Washington Wizards. I admire Mr. Pollin because he felt a social responsibility to give back to the community. He made it his mission to help people less fortunate, and even helped support young athletes like myself. During the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 season, he donated $1,000 for every point that Gilbert Arenas scored on their home court to a court to a local school in D.C., which exceeded $300,000 in the 2007-2008 season. He also donated $1,000,000 to fund research for corticobasal degeneration (CBD), a disease that he had been diagnosed with. These are just a few of many examples of his generosity.
He is an exceptional leader because he improved the franchise and also gave back to his community. It is not a requirement of franchise owners to donate any money at all, but he made it a part of his life to improve the community around him. In an interview, he once said, "My philosophy is that those of us who are on the giving end rather than the receiving end are very lucky." He always believed that it was his responbility to give to others, and share his fortune. He also did things in the NBA that no other owners have done before, such as electronic ticketing, and telescreens. If it were not for him, our experiences at professional games would not be the same. Also, NBA teams now travel around the world, something that had not been done before.
I'm not sure that I can find a flaw with this exceptional man because he is known for giving so much to his community. He even has a street named after him in front of the Verizon Center, which was placed by the community to show their great appreciation for all of his contributions.
On November 25, 2009, Pollin died at the age of 85. The community remembers him not only as an exceptional businessman, but as a great community leader because of the big difference he made in the D.C. area. His wife continues to donate money on his behalf. I admire him most for not only doing his best to improve the franchise, but also making it his responsibility to help the community.
http://www.nba.com/wizards/news/abe_pollin_bio-44212-56.html
That interesting that you wrote about him because it was announced last Thursday by Team President Ernie Grunfeld that they would be going back to red, white, and blue jerseys and are contemplating changing the name back to the bullets.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed this post, particularly the anecdote you shared at the beginning. Very cool.
ReplyDeleteI read it to my friend and he said one flaw Abe Pollin had was changing the team name from Bullets to Wizards -- it made a lot of people really upset, hence an example of where his community leadership may have faltered a bit.