Horrible news just broke as former basketball star and billionaire businessman Junior Bridgeman passed away suddenly this evening.
Bridgeman, who was a star player at Louisville before spending ten years in the NBA, was taking part in an interview at an event when he suddenly suffered a medical emergency in front of a large audience. An ambulance arrived and he was taken to the hospital where he later passed away as reported by WLKY in Louisville, who was actually conducting the interview.
In three seasons at Louisville under legendary coach Denny Crumb, Bridgeman played in two Final Fours and won 72 out of 89 games. He was drafted by the Lakers with the eighth overall pick in the 1975 NBA Draft, but was part of the four-player package sent to Milwaukee for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
During his twelve year career (nine with the Bucks and two with the Clippers), Bridgeman scored 11,517 points. But his time in Milwaukee is where he left his mark, ranking seventh in field goals made (4,142), ninth in points (9,892) and 10th in minutes (18,054). In addition, his 711 career games played for the Bucks ranks him third in franchise history, behind Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton.
In 1988, the Bucks retired his No. 2 jersey.
During his pro career, he began investing in Wendy’s restaurants, eventually building a fast food empire under his company, Bridgeman Foods, Inc.
At its height, he owned over 450 restaurants before selling most of them in 2016.
He also owned a Coca-Cola bottling operation and was an owner of the historic Ebony and Jet magazines.
Bridgeman was a co-owner of the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville and in September 2024, he purchased a 10% stake in his former team, the Milwaukee Bucks, which pushed the value of the franchise to $4 billion. That put Bridgeman on an elite list of athletes who reached billionaire status.
He was 71 years old.
RIP Junior Bridgeman.
