Junior Bridgeman was a former NBA basketball player and very successful businessman. He was born Ulysses Lee Bridgeman in 1953 in East Chicago, Indiana, and grew up there with his family. He and his brother Sam played on the local high school basketball team (Washington High School), and they ended up winning the state championship in 1971.
He would go on to play college basketball at the University of Louisville, and at 6’5”, he played guard and small forward. He excelled in college and had a very successful playing career. He spent three years at Louisville, where he played in 87 games and averaged 15.5 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 2.7 assists. After college, he got drafted into the NBA by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1975, but shortly after, he was part of a huge trade and ended up in Milwaukee.
He played for the Bucks for most of his 12 years in the league, playing in Milwaukee from 1975 to 1984. He would be traded to the Los Angeles Clippers in 1984 and played a couple of years before ending up back in Milwaukee. He retired from the NBA in 1986 after a successful 12-year career and ended up with more than 11,000 points (11,517).
Junior Bridgeman Net Worth
What is Junior Bridgeman’s net worth?
Basketball was just a small part of Junior Bridgeman’s life story after a successful basketball career. As it turns out, he was an intelligent businessman and a good ballplayer. In his playing days, he never made more than $300,000 per year, but that was when he shined as a businessman. He started as a restaurant franchisee owner and added a few other companies along the way. He amassed an astonishing net worth totaling over $600 million. As an entrepreneur, he became highly successful across several different industries.
How did he earn his net worth?
NBA Career
While he earned a decent salary from his NBA playing days, it wasn’t until after he retired that his earning potential really took off. Not making a lot by today’s NBA standard, he did make around $300,000.00 per year over his 12 years playing basketball. But, like many former players of that era, he was able to really become wealthy after he stopped playing.
Life After the NBA
It turns out that Junior Bridgeman had a pretty good work ethic, which included working during the offseason. He got into the restaurant business after working at a local Wendy’s restaurant, where he was learning about the industry. He started small, owning a few Wendy’s franchises, and then eventually, the company he started, Bridgeman Foods, would own more than 100 Wendy’s and Chili’s restaurant locations in several states.
He ended up selling the franchises in 2016, and at that point, according to Forbes magazine, he was the fourth-richest retired athlete. He was only behind three legendary players in their sport: Michael Jordan (basketball), David Beckham (European Football), and Arnold Palmer (golf). Bridgeman had a net worth of $32 million and was only just getting started.
In 2017, Bridgeman and the company he started, Bridgeman Foods, pivoted to the beverage bottling industry. They became bottlers for the Coca-Cola Bottling company and, in 2018, purchased a bottling operation in Canada, where they would bottle Coca-Cola products. In 2020, Junior Bridgeman branched out into another industry, sports media.
His sports media company, Bridgeman Sports and Media, would eventually buy Ebony and Jet Magazines after they filed for bankruptcy. He would eventually find his way back into the bottling business via a capital investment firm that he would cofound called Manna Capital Partners. Manna partnered with another corporation to build and operate an aluminum mill that was built in Los Lunas, New Mexico. They would add another bottling facility in Alabama in 2022, which would be operated by Manna Beverage and Ventures, a subsidiary of Manna Capital Partners.
Junior Bridgeman is worth around $650 million, not too bad for a former basketball player.
What kinds of things did he spend his money on?
As well as being a very savvy businessman, Junior Bridgeman enjoyed a luxury lifestyle with his wife and kids. He owns several luxury homes, including his primary residence in Louisville, Kentucky. He also doesn’t own an extensive collection of cars but has several nice cars, including a Mercedes Benz.
He lives with his wife, and they have three grown children who all play a part in the family business. He has been married to his wife Doris for 35 years, and their three kids: Eden, Ryan, and Justin. Unfortunately, there are not a whole lot more details of his personal life available.
Junior Bridgeman, the son of a steel mill worker in East Chicago, Indiana, became a multimillionaire entrepreneur. From his early childhood on the basketball court to a shining college career and then finally a 12-year stint in the NBA. He turned the strong work ethic that he had gotten from his dad and parlayed that into a business empire.
However, his life was not just about building an empire, he also was determined to help others become successful. Along with all of his successful business ventures, he was recognized for his strong organizational knowledge, which made him an obvious target for companies looking for a board of director member.
He was appointed to several boards of directors for prestigious companies such as the PGA and is also a trustee at the University of Louisville, where he went to college and played basketball.
