Junior Bridgeman's net worth: Junior Bridgeman is a retired American professional basketball player and a successful fast food entrepreneur who has a net worth of $ 600 million. As an NBA player, Junior Bridgeman had a moderately successful 12-year career playing for the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers. He took the money he earned and invested everything in franchises. Specifically Wendy's food chains. Today he is one of the richest athletes in history and a model for finding success after leaving professional sports.
Early life: Junior Bridgeman was born Ulysses Lee "Junior" Bridgeman in 1953 in East Chicago, Indiana (yes, Indiana, not Illinois as you might think). His father was a steel mill worker, a very common job in East Chicago during the time Junior grew up. From an early age, Junior displayed incredible basketball ability. He led his high school basketball team to a state championship in 1971. At 6'5, Bridgeman played guard duty and advanced through college at the University of Louisville, where he was also a member of the Alpha Phi fraternity. Alpha. After earning his bachelor's degree, Junior Bridgeman was drafted with the eighth overall pick in the first round of the 1975 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Lakers and was then immediately traded to the Milwaukee Bucks by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Career: Bridgeman had a very successful career in the NBA, scoring 11,517 career points. In his 12-year NBA career (10 with Milwaukee, two with the Clippers), Bridgeman was primarily a sixth man. For nine consecutive seasons, he averaged double figures in scoring. He holds the Milwaukee franchise record for the number of games played in 711, although it only started in 105 of those games. Bridgeman was a good basketball player, solid and consistent. Junior realized that his NBA time window would be relatively short. At some point, paychecks would stop coming, and he would need to find a new source of steady income. So, on a whim, Junior decided to buy a franchise from his favorite fast food restaurant: Wendy & # 39; s.
While other NBA players hung out during the offseason, Bridgeman worked at Wendy's venue, learning his burgeoning business from all angles and building a foundation for the rest of his and his family's lives. When their game days were over, Junior owned three Wendy & # 39; s. In the following years, Junior slowly expanded Bridgeman Foods Inc. Three locations grew to six. Six grew to ten. Ten grew to twenty and so on. The business grew thanks in large part to Junior's highly dedicated work ethic. Instead of sitting and collecting checks from a beach, Junior was frequently seen behind the counters working in his own restaurants.
One day, a customer recognized Junior in his Wendy uniform making potato chips. The customer was shocked and immediately called a local sports radio show to say how sad it was to see a former NBA player with bad luck, forced to work on fast food asking people "do you want fries with that ? "
By 2016, Bridgeman Foods Inc operated more than 160 Wendy & # 39; s franchises and more than 120 Chili franchises. Bridgeman employs more than 11,000 people and has annual earnings of more than $ 530 million. Junior was the second-largest Wendy's franchise owner in the world and was frequently listed as one of the most admired business leaders in the United States. He became a franchisee of Fazoli & # 39; s and Blaze Pizza as well. In 2016, he sold his fast food empire. Chili & # 39; s parent company repurchased 116 of the Bridgeman franchises. Bridgeman's Chili locations generated around $ 300 million in annual revenue.
Julius Erving (left) and Junior Bridgeman (right) via Getty
In 2017 Bridgeman became a bottler for The Coca-Cola Company, and in 2018 he signed a letter of intent to purchase bottling operations in Canada. Junior is now the President and CEO of Coca-Cola Heartland. He runs the company, its manufacturing plant in Lenexa, Kansas, and its 18 regional distribution centers with his son Justin. Heartland's operations span most of Kansas, a major part of Missouri, slightly more than half of Illinois, and a small part of Nebraska. Charitable organizations that Heartland supports include Crittenton Children & # 39; s Center at St. Luke & # 39; s Hospital in Kansas City and Crisis Nursery and St. Patrick Center in St. Louis.
In 2018 Bridgeman unsuccessfully bid to buy Sports Illustrated from its parent company.
Personal life: He has been married to his wife Doris for more than 35 years. The couple has three adult children who have MBAs and work in the family business.
Bridgeman's No. 2 jersey was retired by the Milwaukee Bucks in 1988.
Bridgeman has personally supported the founding of several basketball camps and a Louisville boys' school for homeless children.
He sits on the PGA board.
Highlights of the salary: His professional basketball career lasted from 1975 to 1987, in the era just before players were paid huge amounts of money. Bridgeman's NBA maximum salary was $ 350,000 for the Clippers in 1985.