Washington Sports & Entertainment Chairman Abe Pollin passed away Tuesday at the age of 85. Pollin, who owned the Wizards, purchased the team in 1964. Here's what they're saying out in the ether about the great Washingtonian.

Dan Steinberg, D.C. Sports Bog: "Gilbert Arenas's return to his Agent Zero persona sort of coincided with the death of Abe Pollin, which led to a surprising number of laugh-out-loud obituary moments after Tuesday night's one-point win over the Sixers. This is, apparently, how the Wizards mourn. For example, a reporter asked Gilbert for his favorite Abe Pollin memory. 'You know, after every win he would slap the [bleep] out of you in the face,' Gilbert said, cracking up the room. 'He'd be walking around, slapping everybody. I just remember the players used to come in, and when he was getting ready to slap you, they'd just give him the duck-in.' Then Gilbert showed us the backwards dodge move he'd use to avoid getting hammered in the face.I asked Gilbert whether he ever slapped Pollin back: 'Ooooooh, no,' he said."

Bullets Forever: "Abe Pollin was professional basketball in this city. He was a truly titanic presence, the rare owner that cared so much about others. He built a new arena in downtown DC, initially out of his own pocket, to try to revitalize a decaying area of the city that needed new life. He has given tremendous amounts of money to charity and done numerous great deeds that are too many to count. In short, this is a monumental loss for the NBA and for the Wizards fan community. We should all take a moment to truly appreciate the great man that Abe Pollin was."

Washington Business Journal: "Douglas Jemal, president of the Douglas Development Corp., which has rebuilt much of the East End around the Verizon Center, recalled Pollin as a wonderful man and a business icon who did things the old school way. 'I knew him very well and spent a lot of years with him down here when he was building the Verizon Center. And I can tell you when the Verizon Center was being built, he was down here every day monitoring construction,' Jemal said. One day, when a worker on one of Jemal's buildings had a construction accident, Pollin was there to help, Jemal said. 'He came running across the street to see what he could do.' Pollin represented a now gone era of 'independent, old-school team owners' who cared about the city's where they did business. 'I think that team was his life,' Jemal said. He said that even when the team was not winning, "he would sit in that owners' box by himself and watch every time that team played.'"

Peter Perl, The Washington Post: "Strong-willed and sometimes cantankerous, Mr. Pollin adamantly refused to compromise his principles in the sports world, even if it meant losing. He got rid of all-star basketball players such as Chris Webber(notes) and Rasheed Wallace(notes) because he did not like their erratic lifestyles and work habits, and he suffered through a public relations nightmare in 2003 when he summarily fired Michael Jordan, then the most famous athlete on the planet. Jordan, who made a highly publicized comeback for the Wizards as a basketball executive and then as a player, had brought national attention and increased revenue to a mediocre franchise. But Mr. Pollin saw Jordan as a selfish and disruptive influence. [...] Mr. Pollin was well known for his philanthropy, which touched global efforts such as UNICEF, while never forgetting local causes such as the I Have a Dream Foundation. He championed improving the lives of children, considering it an obligation of those who could afford to do so, and his contributions over the years were believed to be in the multiple millions. In December 1984, Mr. Pollin read an op-ed column in The Post about 40,000 children dying daily from malnutrition in Africa. He called the writer, inquiring whether the number was a misprint. Mr. Pollin was assured it was accurate and was given a phone number for UNICEF's top U.S. official. Mr. Pollin organized a trip to northeastern Uganda to observe the pestilence first-hand and later spearheaded UNICEF relief drives for Africans, and then for Kurds in Northern Iraq, and for women and children to survive winter in Afghanistan."

Truth About It: "Mr. Pollin was a good owner. Not particularly adept at guiding a franchise toward winning (at least in my lifetime), but a good owner. He was a loyal man, a trait which countless will stand in line to attest. Perhaps, at times, that loyalty got in the way of winning. But that wasn't the path Abe wanted to take. It didn't mean he wanted to win any less than the next fan for life. This team, this city was damn lucky to have Abe Pollin on their side. So cheers to the captain of the vessel, here's to hoping your successor steers the ship at least as good as you did, and to the best of your championship aspirations."

TrueHoop: "When Pollin decided to change his team's name, from 'Bullets' to 'Wizards,' to promote peace, George Vecsey reported the follwing in The New York Times: 'They heard I had a tennis court,' Pollin recalled. 'They asked if I would like to play with the new ambassador, Yitzhak Rabin. Oh, boy. We became friends. His wife. My wife. Our children. Last summer I took my whole family to Israel to see him. It's a tremendous loss.' By then, Pollin was already planning to move the team from suburban Maryland to a proposed arena in downtown Washington. He said he discussed the name change with Susan O'Malley, the president of the team, and Wes Unseld, the executive vice president, who played and coached for this team. 'We all take pride in the Bullets,' Unseld said the other day. 'But times have changed. Circumstances have changed. All the old guys who wore the uniform have to realize that. Maybe we can have an impact by changing the name. But it's not just a name change. We're going into the schools to reach conflict resolution. Juwan Howard(notes) and I have made public-service announcements about violence. This isn't just about a nickname and a logo.' ... 'I stood in the place where Rabin spoke,' Pollin said. 'It was a peace gathering. He was about to leave, but he walked back again. They were rejoicing for peace. I walked those steps. I realized it was time to get this done.'"

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