Few remember the name Junior Bridgeman, but the legacy he left is unmatched. The former NBA star passed away one month ago at 71 years old. Known for being a sixth man, Bridgeman had his number retired by the Milwaukee Bucks, where he spent the majority of his NBA career. He also balled for the Los Angeles Clippers before leaving the game in 1987. Despite only making about $350,000 per season, Bridgeman became one of the richest former athletes in the world.
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Bridgeman dove into the business world shortly after his basketball career came to an end. One area in which the entrepreneur saw great potential was the restaurant industry, specifically fast food restaurants like Wendy’s. Bridgeman started with five Wendy’s in the inner city of Milwaukee but transformed it into an empire across the nation. How did he do it? The since-passed businessman broke it down during a public lecture with the Own Your Leisure program last year.
“By getting involved with the people and letting the people know you care about them,” Bridgeman stated as the main reason the businesses grew. He later revealed that Milwaukee used to have a law that jailed citizens who had a traffic violation, a law that has since been revoked. But at the time, he wanted to let the community and potential customers know that they were cared about. So Bridgeman bailed them out.
“We were bailing out people every day,” he revealed. That wasn’t the only good deed Bridgeman and his business did to help the people, but it was the only one he spoke about at the lecture. “Once they realized we cared about them, then they cared about the business, and they cared about us. And we grew,” said Bridgeman at the time. “And as we grew, we added more stores and were able to promote people.”
The model was more than effective. A typical Wendy’s usually pulled in about $600,000 a year. Under Bridgeman’s community-first mindset his stores pulled in over $2 million a year. He later mentioned that they had hundreds of employees who were pulling in over $100,000 a year from his restaurants. At one point, he owned 160 Wendy’s and 120 Chili’s with over 25,000 employees working for him. He hit a home run. And that was just one area of business he succeeded in.
The iconic businessman got involved with Coca-Cola, Ebony, and Jet
Bridgeman’s billionaire resume is even more impressive when you look at it side-by-side. After selling over 200 Wendy’s and Chili’s stores in 2016, he started a Coca-Cola bottling company and started distributing the popular soda across the world.
He was also a man of culture. In 2020, he purchased Ebony and Jet magazine for $14 million after both brands had declared bankruptcy. Bridgeman’s revival showed that his efforts to help black culture grow and remain relevant were something he truly cared about.
In 2024, Bridgeman purchased a minority stake in the Bucks, proving that this allegiance to basketball and his old team had never gone away.
After it was all said and done, Bridgeman died with a net worth of $1.4 billion. His influence over still-active athletes, including Jalen Hurts, Dwyane Wade, Fred VanVleet, Draymond Green, and more top names, has helped them grow their millions into the ten-figure range. More importantly, he was a father, a husband, and a good man.
Rest in power, Mr. Bridgeman.
