Junior Bridgeman, the former Milwaukee Bucks sixth man-turned-business mogul, passed away suddenly on Tuesday after suffering a medical emergency at the Galt House Hotel.
Bridgeman, 71, was speaking to reporter Kent Taylor in front of hundreds of attendees at a fundraising event in Louisville when he remarked that he thought he was having a heart attack. Bridgeman was immediately tended to by emergency responders and taken away in an ambulance, but his death was confirmed later in the evening.
Bridgeman played four years at the University of Louisville for Denny Crum, and in 1974-75, he was named an All-American. During those years, Bridgeman spearheaded the Cardinals' run to consecutive Final Four appearances in 1974 and 1975. After exhausting his eligibility, Bridgeman was drafted eighth overall by the Los Angeles Lakers but was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks weeks later in a package deal for Kareem Abdul Jabbar.
Bridgeman would spend the majority of his playing career with the Bucks and even re-signed with the team in 1986 after he was traded to the Clippers.Upon retiring, Bridgeman embarked on afour-decade-longcareer as an entrepreneur that began with offseasons spent working at Wendy's to gain a grasp of how the chain worked from the inside out.
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Bridgeman lost his initial investment in a Wendy's franchise based in Brooklyn with ex-teammate Paul Silas. However, while Silas became a head coach for the next three decades, Bridgeman joined a Wendy's training program. In 1988, he invested what was left of his retirement savings into five Wendy's locations in Milwaukee.As the president and CEO of Bridgeman Foods Inc., he eventually owned more than 100 Wendy's and Chili's restaurants, a Coca-Cola bottling company, and then boughtEbonyandJetmagazines after they declared bankruptcy.
By 2016, Bridgeman was the fourth-wealthiest ex-athlete on the planet. In September of 2024, Bridgeman purchased a 10 percent stake in the franchise he spent the majority of his NBA career playing for.In addition to his entrepreneurial endeavors, Bridegman also served a term as NBPA president when the union filed a federal lawsuit alleging the NBA was violating antitrust laws. The “Bridgeman antitrust suit” eventually led to the establishment of unrestricted free agency.
As a player, Bridgeman was a journeyman involved in one of the most consequential trades in league history. However, in his post-playing career, he'll be memorialized in paving the way for the current generation of NBA player-moguls who have expanded their portfolios into the business arena.
a]:text-link [&_>a]:underline">DJ Dunson is a sports and entertainment raconteur who has covered the NFL, NBA, college sports and the intersection with the four quarters of life. He has previously written for Deadspin, Yahoo Sports, Complex and Bleacher Report, among others.