{"id":10948,"date":"2016-04-24T22:19:13","date_gmt":"2016-04-25T03:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/?p=10948"},"modified":"2016-04-25T23:01:37","modified_gmt":"2016-04-26T04:01:37","slug":"ulysses-lee-junior-bridgeman-is-the-man-from-nba-player-to-corporate-tycoon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/?p=10948","title":{"rendered":"Ulysses Lee “Junior” Bridgeman, IS THE MAN. “FROM NBA PLAYER TO CORPORATE TYCOON.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"bridgeman_bucksbest_111031_10\"\"JUNIOR\"bridgeman02_md-01\"\"JB\"<\/h1>\n

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Former Milwaukee Bucks player Ulysses \u201cJunior\u201d Bridgeman, who became one of the largest restaurant franchise operators in the country after retiring from the NBA in 1987, is in the process of divesting his restaurant holdings and has become a new bottler for the Coca-Cola system.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bridgeman turned a purchase of five Wendy\u2019s franchises in Milwaukee into 240 Wendy\u2019s nationwide (the second largest portfolio in the chain\u2019s franchisee network) and 125 Chili\u2019s, according to Restaurant Business Online.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today those restaurants, which bring in more than $1.5 million of annual sales apiece, are at the heart of a 240-store portfolio\u2014making Bridgeman\u2019s private company, Bridgeman Foods, America\u2019s second-largest Wendy\u2019s franchise owner. (Bridgeman won\u2019t discuss his profits.) He also owns 125 Chili\u2019s restaurants, 45 Fannie May Chocolate stores, and scads of other retail franchises, most of them clustered in the upper Midwest, between corporate headquarters in Milwaukee and Louisville. His employee roster numbers 9,000 people. Estimates of his net worth range from $450 million to $600 million.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bridgeman has signed a letter of intent to acquire territory from the Coca-Cola Co. in Missouri, Illinois, Kansas and Nebraska, including the cities of St. Louis and Kansas City. Bridgeman also will acquire a production facility in Lenexa, Kan. Justin Bridgeman, one of Junior Bridgeman\u2019s sons, will lead the company with his father.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ulysses Lee “Junior” Bridgeman (born September 17, 1953) is a retired American basketball<\/a> player.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Born in East Chicago, Indiana<\/a>, Bridgeman was a member of the 1971 East Chicago Washington High School Senators basketball team, which went undefeated (29-0) and won the Indiana state high school basketball championship. Among his teammates were his brother Sam, Pete Trgovich<\/a> (who played at UCLA<\/a>) and Tim Stoddard<\/a> (N.C. State<\/a>), who would go on to have success as a Major League Baseball<\/a> pitcher<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A 6’5″ guard<\/a>\/forward<\/a> from the University of Louisville<\/a>, Bridgeman was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> in 1975<\/a> and immediately traded with Brian Winters<\/a>, David Meyers<\/a> and Elmore Smith<\/a> to the Milwaukee Bucks<\/a> for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar<\/a>. Bridgeman went on to have a solid 12-year NBA career, spent mostly with the Bucks, and he scored 11,517 total points. Although he was a sixth man for most of his career, he averaged double figures in scoring for nine consecutive seasons. He played in 711 games for the Bucks, still the most in franchise history, although he started only 105 times. His #2 jersey was retired by the Bucks franchise in 1988.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Also, The Former 6th Man Of The Year Award Winning Professional Basketball Player, “Junior Bridgeman”, has become the first existing Wendy\u2019s<\/a><\/span> franchisee to acquire company-owned locations in the quick-service brand\u2019s recently announced 425-unit refranchising effort.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bridgeman, one of the restaurant industry\u2019s most established athlete franchisees<\/a>, bought 30 Wendy\u2019s units in the St. Louis market through BB St. Louis Inc., a partnership between Bridgeman and Chauncey Billups, a point guard for the Detroit Pistons and a 16-year veteran of the National Basketball Association. The deal marks Billups\u2019 first foray into the restaurant industry.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The acquisition increases the total number of Wendy\u2019s restaurants that Bridgeman operates to 196. He also operates more than 100 locations of Chili\u2019s<\/a><\/span> and several dozen Fazoli\u2019s units. The latest deal with Wendy\u2019s includes 29 existing units and one location under construction.Dublin, Ohio-based The Wendy\u2019s Co. disclosed that the acquisition includes a development plan for more new locations in the market and a requirement to remodel some of the units in Wendy\u2019s new \u201cImage Activation\u201d prototype design.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are expanding our relationship with successful, well-capitalized franchisees with strong operating credentials and a commitment to our Image Activation reimaging program,\u201d chief executive Emil Brolick said in a statement. \u201cWe have enjoyed a longstanding relationship with Junior Bridgeman, and he is an exceptional person, an excellent operator and very committed to building a people culture. In addition, we are eager to welcome Chauncey to the Wendy\u2019s family.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bridgeman said in a statement that he and Billups were excited about their new partnership. \u201cWe have a tremendous opportunity in the St. Louis market,\u201d he said, \u201cand our goal is to build upon the positive momentum and growth that the Wendy\u2019s brand is currently experiencing.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

For every player like Billups, though, there are several more who end up going broke within five years of retirement\u2014tales that break Bridgeman\u2019s heart. \u201cUnless you grew up in a family where someone owned a business or you sat around the kitchen table talking about the business page\u2014which 99.9% of the players didn\u2019t\u2014you have no idea what $10,000 or $100,000 can do or how long it really lasts,\u201d he says.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bridgeman is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha<\/a> fraternity. Bridgeman has an estimated net worth of over\u00a0$400 million dollars\u00a0as a result of his great decision making abilities, and his tireless work ethic. He was also\u00a0elected to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame<\/a> in 1999.<\/strong><\/p>\n

THE MYBOYSAY SPORTS NATION\u00a0WOULD LIKE TO CONGRATULATE \u00a0“MR. Ulysses Lee “Junior” Bridgeman”, \u00a0ON HIS MAGNIFICENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN THE CORPORATE WORLD.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Former Milwaukee Bucks player Ulysses \u201cJunior\u201d Bridgeman, who became one of the largest restaurant franchise operators in the country after retiring from the NBA in 1987, is in the process of divesting his restaurant holdings and has become a new bottler for the Coca-Cola system. Bridgeman turned a purchase of five Wendy\u2019s franchises in Milwaukee […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[330,11,14,106,187,1,7,9,10],"tags":[1104,1106,1105,21,1103],"class_list":["post-10948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-basketball-sports","category-business","category-most-commented","category-nba-sports-news","category-ncaa-basketball","category-news","category-sports","category-us","category-world","tag-coca-cola","tag-former-milwaukee-bucks-6th-man-of-the-year","tag-former-nba-great","tag-nba","tag-ulysses-lee-junior-bridgeman","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10948\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}