Junior Bridgeman, N.B.A. Player Turned Mogul, Dies at 71

Junior Bridgeman, who followed a strong N.B.A.career with a remarkable run as an entrepreneur, acquiring hundreds of fast-food restaurants, a Coca-Cola bottling business and a minority stake in the Milwaukee Bucks, his team for a decade, died on Tuesday in Louisville, Ky.

He was 71.The cause was a cardiac event, a family spokesman said.Mr.

Bridgeman had been talking to a reporter for a local television station during a charity event at the Galt House Hotel when he said he felt that he was having a heart attack, the spokesman said, and he was taken to a hospital, where he died.Mr.Bridgeman’s business success brought him a net worth of $1.4 billion this year, Forbes magazine said, putting him in “rare air alongside Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and LeBron James as the only N.B.A.

players with 10-figure fortunes.”Mr.Johnson, writing on X after the death, recalled that Mr.

Bridgeman, a former small forward, had “one of the sweetest jump shots in the N.B.A.” Mr.Bridgeman, he added, had helped create a blueprint for “so many current and former athletes across sports that success doesn’t end when you’re done playing.”Mr.

Bridgeman was not a major star during his 12 seasons in the N.B.A., 10 with the Bucks and two with the Los Angeles Clippers.But he stood out as a sixth man who provided a scoring boost off the bench for a Milwaukee team that largely excelled under Coach Don Nelson.

From 1975 to 1987, Mr.Bridgeman averaged 13.6 points a game....