RIP Junior Bridgeman

Traded to Bucks as part of Kareem trade, had pretty solid NBA career that earned him $2-3 million.

Turned that into over $1 billion as an entrepreneur, owning more than 450 restaurants like Wendy’s, Chili’s and Pizza Hut. Just became a Bucks minority owner in February.

https://www.jsonline.com/story/spor...end-billionaire-businessman-dies/82281170007/

 

Loved those late 70s-80s Bucks teams.
Rest in peace.

 

They were loaded with talent but just a little too small to compete with Philly, LA and Boston. Bridgeman had the smarts and the skill but he was a small small forward.

 

Always enjoyed watching him play on those Nelson teams. Made more money after he retired than Magic Johnson did.

 

Great college player for a really good Louisville team.

 

Then he was banished to Clippersville.

 

The late Jim Irwin called those Bucks games on flagship WTMJ-AM. Lots of stories about Nellie, Del Harris and others.
Irwin was already doing Packers and Badgers football when he added NBA. Some of his travel stories (ex: Iowa City to Tampa to Portland in three days) are timeless.

 

I couldn't tell you the first thing about Junior Bridgeman the basketball player, can't remember a thing he did. But I can tell a lot about how generous he is with his time in talking about his journey in business. Gracious, humble, always got back to you if you reached out to him. He was a guy that truly gave back with his knowledge. He shared his path to success, he was willing to give young people opportunities to get in the door. Many people, when they climb the ladder of success, they want to be at the top alone and look down, but Junior Bridgeman wanted to extend that ladder and make sure that it was accessible to anyone that wanted to try to climb it.

 

Agreed. I was not aware that he bought Ebony and Jet out of bankruptcy in 2020 to keep the publications going. Considering the state of print media, that's more an act of philanthropy than an investment,.

 

That’s the true American dream, however much the bastards try to rewrite it.