Junior Bridgeman obit

Former UofL all-star, billionaire philanthropist Junior Bridgeman dies after suffering medical emergency

 

He was not on the list.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) -Louisville philanthropist and billionaire businessman Junior Bridgeman has died after suffering a medical emergency while attending an event in downtown Louisville.

A WAVE News employee who was at the event on March 11 at the Galt House said Bridgeman, 71, grabbed his chest and said he thought he was having a heart attack. Medical personnel were called to the scene and the room was cleared.

Later in the day, the Al J. Schneider Company, which represents the Galt House, confirmed his passing and expressed their sympathies for the loss of the Louisville icon.

“Junior Bridgeman was an integral part of our community. From his athletic impact to his philanthropic efforts, he will be deeply missed,” said Lance George, Chief Marketing Officer. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Bridgeman family during this time.”

Bridgeman played basketball for the University of Louisville from 1972-1975 under coach Danny Crum. He went on to join the Milwaukee Bucks from 1975 to 1984.

After retiring from the NBA, Bridgeman returned to Louisville and invested in the fast-food franchise. He eventually owned 500 Wendy’s and Chili’s restaurants across the country. Bridgeman has served on several of Louisville’s board chairs and is also a co-owner of Valhalla Golf Club.

In 2016, Forbes ranked Bridgeman the fourth-wealthiest retired athlete in the world, behind Arnold Palmer, David Beckham and Michael Jordan.

Bridgeman played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers from 1975 until 1987. Bridgeman owned Ebony and Jet magazines. Despite never making more than $350,000 a season during his NBA career, Bridgeman had a net worth of over $600 million, making him one of the wealthiest former athletes in the world.

Ulysses Lee Bridgeman Jr. was born in East Chicago, Indiana, to Ulysses Lee Bridgeman. He attended Washington High School and was a member of their 1971 basketball team, which went undefeated (29–0) and won the Indiana state high school basketball championship. Among his teammates were his brother Sam; Pete Trgovich and Tim Stoddard.

A 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) tall guard / forward, Bridgeman attended the University of Louisville and played college basketball for the Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team. Bridgeman was the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year in 1974 and 1975. Bridgeman led the Louisville Cardinals to the 1974 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament as a junior. As a senior, he led the Cardinals to the Final Four of the 1975 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament, where they lost to eventual NCAA champion UCLA 75–74 in the national semifinal. In his collegiate career at Louisville, Bridgeman averaged 15.5 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 87 games.

The Los Angeles Lakers selected Bridgeman in the first round, with the eighth overall selection, in the 1975 NBA draft. On June 16, 1975, almost three weeks after the draft, the Lakers traded Bridgeman, David Meyers, Elmore Smith, and Brian Winters to the Milwaukee Bucks for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Walt Wesley.

As a rookie with Milwaukee in 1975–1976 under coach Larry Costello, Bridgeman averaged 8.6 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.9 assists. In 1976–1977, Costello was fired by Milwaukee after a 3–15 start and assistant coach Don Nelson, who had been a player for the 1976 NBA champion Boston Celtics the year before, was hired as coach. Bridgeman improved, averaging 14.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 2.5 assists. On December 15, 1976, Bridgeman scored a career-high 41 points in a 129–125 loss against Boston. Nelson and Bridgeman were together for the next eight seasons.

Bridgeman was used by Nelson as a complement to teammates Bob Dandridge, Marques Johnson, Sidney Moncrief, Bob Lanier, Quinn Buckner, Myers, Winters, and Mickey Johnson during his Milwaukee tenure, as the Bucks had powerful teams, winning division titles in 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, and 1984.

On April 5, 1981, Bridgeman scored a career playoff-high 32 points and recorded six assists in a Game 1 Eastern Conference semifinals loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.

After nine seasons in Milwaukee, on September 29, 1984, Bridgeman was traded by the Bucks with Harvey Catchings, Marques Johnson, and cash to the Los Angeles Clippers for Terry Cummings, Craig Hodges, and Ricky Pierce. On January 29, 1985, Bridgeman scored 30 points in a loss against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

After spending two years in Los Angeles, Bridgeman returned to Milwaukee for one more season before retiring in 1987. He played in 711 games for the Bucks, at the time, the most in franchise history. This was surpassed on March 20, 2023, by Giannis Antetokounmpo. In his 12-year NBA career, Bridgeman scored 11,517 total points.

Bridgeman was a sixth man for most of his career, averaging double figures in scoring for nine consecutive seasons. Some believe that if the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award had existed before the 1982–83 season, Bridgeman might have won it multiple times. In his career with the Milwaukee Bucks (1975–1984, 1986–1987) and the Los Angeles Clippers (1984–1986), Bridgeman played in 849 total NBA games, averaging 13.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.6 assists, shooting 47% from the floor and 84% from the line.

Bridgeman also served as the president of the National Basketball Players Association from 1985 to 1988. Bridgeman resigned after the 1988 CBA and the controversy of the Junior Bridgeman antitrust lawsuit, in which NBA players sued the NBA for violation of antitrust laws. The players argued that by compensating to eschew from matching offers for free agents and abuse of the salary cap, total players' share of gross revenues decreased from 61 percent to 54 percent from the 1983–84 season.

During the off-seasons of his playing career, Bridgeman worked and learned the business model of Wendy's fast food restaurant franchise. After retiring from the NBA, he invested in the franchise and eventually owned over 100 various Wendy's and Chili's restaurants, before selling in 2016.

In 2016, Forbes ranked Bridgeman the fourth-wealthiest retired athlete in the world behind only Michael Jordan, David Beckham, and Arnold Palmer with an estimated income of $32 million.

As President and CEO of Bridgeman Foods Inc, in 2017, Bridgeman became a bottler for The Coca-Cola Company, and in 2018, he signed a letter of intent to buy bottling operations in Canada.

In December 2020, Bridgeman, via Bridgeman Sports and Media, bought Ebony and Jet for $14 million after the magazines had declared bankruptcy earlier in the year.

On May 26, 2022, Manna Capital Partners, an investment firm cofounded by Bridgeman, announced that the firm had partnered with Ball Corporation to construct and operate an integrated secondary aluminum mill in Los Lunas, New Mexico. On October 18, 2022, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey announced that Manna Capital Partners would invest in a bottling facility to be located in Hope Hull, Alabama and operated by affiliate Manna Beverages & Ventures.

On September 24, 2024, the Bucks announced that Bridgeman had purchased a 10% interest in the team, with the deal valuing the franchise at $4 billion. According to Bucks co-owner Jimmy Haslam, Bridgeman purchased the interests of several minority owners at an undisclosed discount from the stated value.