Junior Bridgeman

Ulysses Lee "Junior" Bridgeman (September 17, 1953 – March 11, 2025) was a retired NBA player. Originally drafted in 1975 by the Los Angeles Lakers with the #8 overall pick, he would be traded before the season as part of a blockbuster deal which saw Kareem Abdul-Jabbar go from the Milwaukee Bucks to the Lakers.

Bridgeman would have a fairly long career (12 years) as a key bench player (though before the advent of the Sixth Man Award; it is speculated that he would have won it multiple times) with the Bucks (on two stints; they ultimately retired his #2) as well as the Los Angeles Clippers. He also served as President of the NBA Players Association from 1985-1988.

But as he played during a time when NBA salaries were nowhere near modern ones (he never made more than $350,000 in a season), during the off-season he would work for, and ultimately learn, the ins-and-outs of the restaurant industry. Ultimately, he owned over 100 Wendy's and Chili's franchise locations, before selling out to purchase a Coca-Cola bottling operation, both in Louisville, Kentucky (where he went to college). Later he purchased the popular Black magazines Ebony and Jet out of bankruptcy, and a 10% interest in the Bucks franchise which drafted him. At this death, Bridgeman's estimated net worth was in excess of $1.4 billion, which ranks him among the wealthiest former athletes in the world.