Former NBA player and billionaire businessman Junior Bridgeman is no more. Bridgeman, 71, passed away on Tuesday after suffering a medical emergency during a fundraiser at the Galt House Hotel in downtown Louisville. The Al J. Schneider Company, which owns the hotel, confirmed Bridgeman’s passing in a statement.
“Junior Bridgeman was an integral part of our community. From his athletic impact to his philanthropic efforts, he will be deeply missed,” Lance George, chief marketing officer, said in a written statement. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Bridgeman family during this time.”
The cause of Bridgeman’s passing has not been confirmed, but he might have suffered a heart attack. A WLKY TV reporter was interviewing him at the event when the Louisville basketball great stated he felt he was having a heart attack.
Emergency medical services would later arrive on the scene, and Bridgeman was taken away in an ambulance, but he did not survive. His passing leaves a huge void in the community.
Ulysses Lee Bridgeman Jr. was born in East Chicago, Indiana, on Sept. 17, 1953. He first made a name for himself at Washington High School, helping them win the Indiana State High School basketball championship in 1971.
A year later, Bridgeman headed to the University of Louisville. He was twice named MVC Player of the Year with the Cardinals and led them to the 1975 Final Four. They came extremely close to making it to the championship game, narrowly losing 75-74 in overtime to UCLA, the eventual champions.
That would be the end of Bridgeman’s college career, and he finished with averages of 15.5 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game. His exploits at Louisville led to the Los Angeles Lakers drafting him with the eighth pick of the 1975 Draft, but he never played for the franchise.
The Lakers sent Bridgeman to the Milwaukee Bucks just weeks after the draft as part of the package for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He never became a superstar in the NBA but went on to have a pretty good career.
Bridgeman played for 12 seasons in the NBA with the Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers and had career averages of 13.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game. He spent 10 of those seasons in Milwaukee and certainly left a mark on the franchise.
Bridgeman ranks third in games played (711) and ninth in points (9,892) in Bucks franchise history and saw his No. 2 jersey retired by the team in 1988. He would later further strengthen that bond with the team by purchasing a 10% stake in 2024. The Bucks released a statement on his passing on Tuesday.
“The Milwaukee Bucks are shocked and saddened by the tragic passing of Bucks legend and owner Junior Bridgeman. Junior’s retired No. 2 jersey hangs in the Fiserv Forum, serving as a constant remembrance of his outstanding play on the court and his impact on the Bucks’ success.
“His hard work and perseverance led him to become one of the nation’s top business leaders and, last September, Junior’s professional life came full circle when he returned to the Bucks family as an owner. His memory will always be an inspiration to the Bucks organization.”
Bridgeman was in a position to make that kind of investment in the Bucks thanks to his business ventures post-retirement. He started investing in restaurants once his playing days were over and eventually became the owner and CEO of Bridgeman Foods, which operated more than 450 Wendy’s and Chili’s restaurants.
Bridgeman sold most of them in 2016 and became an independent bottler for Coca-Cola. Then, in 2020, he purchased the Ebony and Jet magazines.
All these ventures led to Forbes estimating in February 2025 that Bridgeman had an impressive net worth of $1.4 billion. He had built up quite the empire and is now survived by his wife, Doris, and his three children, Eden, Justin, and Ryan.
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