How an NBA sixth man built a $600M empire
Baxter Holmes, ESPN Senior WriterJul 24, 2024, 08:23 AM
ONE DAY IN 1988, a woman approached the counter of a Wendy's fast food restaurant in South Milwaukee. "Here's your food," a tall man said, pushing a tray toward her. Puzzled, she peered up at the man, whom she recognized as an NBA player, then down at her food, then back at him. Later that week, the woman called into a local radio station.
As the woman spoke, Junior Bridgeman was driving to his downtown Milwaukee office.
"I just think it's a shame," Bridgeman recalled her saying.
"What are you talking about?" one of the hosts responded.
"I stopped at a Wendy's the other day," she continued, "and these NBA basketball players make all this money and, when their career is over, they still have to work at Wendy's."
Bridgeman looked at his car's speakers. "Oh my god," he told himself. He was the ex-player who had served her. She was talking about him.
Bridgeman, who played for the Milwaukee Bucks from 1975 to 1984, laughed. What the woman didn't know was that the recently retired Bridgeman wasn't merely working at that Wendy's location. The 6-foot-5 former wing owned it -- and others across the city.
But Bridgeman understood her point. Salaries for players then weren't that high by today's standards. In Bridgeman's 12-season career, which included a stint with the LA Clippers, he made about $2.95 million and never more than $350,000 in a season.
After his career, he built a fast-food empire that, at its peak, totaled more than 450 restaurants nationwide. He became a Coca-Cola bottling distributor with territory across three states and into Canada. He bought Ebony and Jet magazines. His estimated net worth soared to nearly $600 million, behind just Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and LeBron James, among NBA players.
But unlike those household names, Bridgeman was never an NBA star; his post-NBA fortune came without rich endorsement deals or the ability to cash in on global fame.
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