Ulysses Lee "Junior" Bridgeman Jr. (September 17, 1953 – March 11, 2025) was an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player and businessman. Bridgeman played in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA) for the Milwaukee Bucks and

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The ...

from 1975 until 1987. Following his career, Bridgeman owned hundreds of fast-food restaurants, became a

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bottler and distributor, and acquired '' Ebony'' and '' Jet'' magazines. Despite never making more than $350,000 a season during his NBA career, Bridgeman had a net worth of over $1.4 billion, making him one of the wealthiest former athletes in the world.

Early life

Ulysses Lee Bridgeman Jr. was born in

East Chicago, Indiana East Chicago is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 26,370 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Centered around heavy industry, the city is home to the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal, an artificial freshwa ...

, to Ulysses Lee Bridgeman Sr., a steel mill worker, and Delores (Meaders) Bridgeman, a homemaker. 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.

College career

A guard/ forward, Bridgeman attended the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public university, public research university in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. Chartered in 1798 as the Jefferson Seminary, it became in the 19t ...

and played

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for the

Louisville Cardinals men's basketball The Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team is the men's college basketball program representing the University of Louisville (U of L) in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) of NCAA Division I. The Cardinals have officially won two NCAA cham ...

team. Bridgeman was the

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the fourth-oldest collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the Midwestern Unite ...

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 The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

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.

Professional career

Milwaukee Bucks (1975–1984)

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 Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

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.

Los Angeles Clippers (1984–1986)

After nine seasons in Milwaukee, on September 29, 1984, Bridgeman was traded by the Bucks with Harvey Catchings, Marques Johnson and cash to the

for Terry Cummings, Craig Hodges and Ricky Pierce. On January 29, 1985, Bridgeman scored 30 points in a loss against the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers, often referred to as the Cavs, are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Divis ...

Milwaukee Bucks (1986–1987)

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 points.

Overall

Bridgeman played as 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, he might have won it multiple times. In his career with the Bucks and Clippers, Bridgeman played in 849 games, averaging 13.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists, shooting 47% on field goals and 84% from the foul line. Bridgeman also served as the president of the National Basketball Players Association from 1985 to 1988. Bridgeman resigned after the 1988

collective bargaining agreement A collective agreement, collective labour agreement (CLA) or collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is a written contract negotiated through collective bargaining for employees by one or more trade unions with the management of a company (or with an ...

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, players' share of gross revenues decreased from 61 percent to 54 percent from the 1983–84 season.

Entrepreneurial career

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 450 fast-food restaurants, including over 160 Wendy's and 120 Chili's restaurants. In 2016, he sold 120 Chili's and 100 Wendy's to a private buyer and started a

bottling company to distribute their beverage brands. In 2016, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' 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, Bridgeman signed a letter of intent to buy bottling operations in Canada in 2018. In December 2020, Bridgeman, via Bridgeman Sports and Media, bought '' Ebony'' and '' Jet'' for $14 million after the magazines had declared

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

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.

NBA career statistics

Source:

Regular season

, - , align="left" , 1975–76 , align="left" ,

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

, 81 , , – , , 20.3 , , .439 , , – , , .795 , , 3.6 , , 1.9 , , 0.6 , , 0.3 , , 8.6 , - , align="left" , 1976–77 , align="left" ,

, 82 , , – , , 29.4 , , .449 , , .000 , , .864 , , 5.1 , , 2.5 , , 1.0 , , 0.3 , , 14.4 , - , align="left" , 1977–78 , align="left" ,

, 82 , , – , , 22.9 , , .503 , , .000 , , .810 , , 3.5 , , 2.1 , , 0.9 , , 0.4 , , 13.6 , - , align="left" , 1978–79 , align="left" ,

, 82 , , – , , 23.9 , , .506 , , .000 , , .829 , , 3.6 , , 2.0 , , 1.1 , , 0.5 , , 15.5 , - , align="left" , 1979–80 , align="left" ,

, 81 , , – , , 28.6 , , .478 , , .185 , , .865 , , 3.7 , , 2.9 , , 1.2 , , 0.2 , , 17.6 , - , align="left" , 1980–81 , align="left" ,

, 77 , , – , , 28.8 , , .487 , , .143 , , .884 , , 3.8 , , 3.0 , , 1.1 , , 0.4 , , 16.8 , - , align="left" , 1981–82 , align="left" ,

, 41 , , 4 , , 22.5 , , .483 , , .444 , , .864 , , 3.0 , , 2.7 , , 0.7 , , 0.1 , , 12.5 , - , align="left" , 1982–83 , align="left" ,

, 70 , , 5 , , 26.5 , , .492 , , .077 , , .837 , , 3.5 , , 3.0 , , 0.6 , , 0.1 , , 14.4 , - , align="left" , 1983–84 , align="left" ,

, 81 , , 10 , , 30.0 , , .465 , , .194 , , .807 , , 4.1 , , 3.3 , , 0.7 , , 0.2 , , 15.1 , - , align="left" , 1984–85 , align="left" , LA Clippers , 80 , , 15 , , 25.5 , , .465 , , .359 , , .879 , , 2.9 , , 2.1 , , 0.6 , , 0.2 , , 13.9 , - , align="left" , 1985–86 , align="left" , LA Clippers , 58 , , 14 , , 20.0 , , .441 , , .333 , , .891 , , 2.1 , , 1.9 , , 0.5 , , 0.1 , , 8.8 , - , align="left" , 1986–87 , align="left" ,

, 34 , , 4 , , 12.3 , , .462 , , .167 , , .800 , , 1.5 , , 1.0 , , 0.3 , , 0.1 , , 5.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 849 , , 52 , , 25.0 , , .475 , , .244 , , .846 , , 3.5 , , 2.4 , , 0.8 , , 0.3 , , 13.6

Playoffs

, - , align="left" , 1975–76 , align="left" ,

, 3 , , – , , 22.3 , , .450 , , – , , .636 , , 3.7 , , 1.7 , , 0.3 , , 0.0 , , 8.3 , - , align="left" , 1977–78 , align="left" ,

, 9 , , – , , 19.8 , , .484 , , – , , .750 , , 2.0 , , 1.2 , , 1.0 , , 0.2 , , 10.4 , - , align="left" , 1979–80 , align="left" ,

, 5 , , – , , 24.8 , , .357 , , .000 , , .733 , , 3.8 , , 3.4 , , 1.0 , , 0.4 , , 10.2 , - , align="left" , 1980–81 , align="left" ,

, 7 , , – , , 26.1 , , .462 , , 1.000 , , .813 , , 2.1 , , 3.3 , , 0.9 , , 0.0 , , 14.0 , - , align="left" , 1982–83 , align="left" ,

, 9 , , – , , 34.2 , , .469 , , .400 , , .933 , , 5.0 , , 3.1 , , 1.1 , , 0.2 , , 16.9 , - , align="left" , 1983–84 , align="left" ,

, 16 , , – , , 31.2 , , .456 , , .111 , , .815 , , 4.0 , , 2.8 , , 0.4 , , 0.3 , , 14.4 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 49 , , – , , 27.7 , , .454 , , .250 , , .814 , , 3.5 , , 2.6 , , 0.8 , , 0.2 , , 13.3

Personal life and death

Bridgeman was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. In 2008, the PGA of America appointed Bridgeman to serve on the PGA Board of Directors. The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame appointed Bridgeman to the board of governors in 2010. Churchill Downs appointed Bridgeman to the company's board of directors in 2012. In 2016–2017 Bridgeman was appointed and served on the University of Louisville Board of Trustees. Bridgeman was also a member of the Simmons College of Kentucky board of trustees. Bridgeman was honored numerous times at Bucks games following his retirement, and made regular appearances at Bucks games for bobblehead nights and autograph signings during charity donation-drive events. On the Bucks' appearance in the 2021 NBA Finals, and recalling his Bucks teams repeated Eastern Conference Finals losses, Bridgeman said "You know, we all wore the same jersey at some point in time. So, you feel a relationship there and you know, so much admiration for the guys that are able to get to the Finals. You know, that was our dream of ours and unfortunately, we ran into a couple of guys in Boston and Philly at the time, but they've been able to do it and just wishing them all the luck in the world." Bridgeman was a member of the Louisville megachurch Southeast Christian Church. Bridgeman died in Louisville on March 11, 2025, after suffering a heart attack at an event at the Galt House Hotel. He was 71. A public memorial service was held on March 22 at the Southeast Christian main campus.

Honors

* Bridgeman's No. 2 jersey was retired by the Milwaukee Bucks in 1988. * In 1999, Bridgeman was inducted into the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame. * Bridgeman was inducted into the University of Louisville College of Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame in 2007. * In 2009, Bridgeman was inducted into the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame. * In 2009, a portion of Grace Street in East Chicago, Indiana, was named in honor of Bridgeman. * In 2014, Bridgeman was inducted into the Kentucky Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. * In 2019, Bridgeman received the Gold Cup award from Greater Louisville Inc. in honor of his business contributions and community involvement.

References

External links

*
Profile at the Bucks' website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bridgeman, Junior 1953 births 2025 deaths 20th-century African-American businesspeople 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American businesspeople 21st-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century American sportsmen African-American billionaires African-American company founders African-American investors African-American sports executives and administrators All-American college men's basketball players American billionaires American financial company founders American investors American magazine people American mass media owners American men's basketball players American restaurateurs Businesspeople from Indiana Los Angeles Clippers announcers Los Angeles Clippers players Los Angeles Lakers draft picks Louisville Cardinals men's basketball players Mass media people from Indiana Members of the Christian churches and churches of Christ Milwaukee Bucks executives Milwaukee Bucks players National Basketball Players Association presidents NBA owners NBA players with retired numbers Shooting guards Small forwards Basketball players from East Chicago, Indiana