Junior Bridgeman, a former NBA sixth man who rose from modest means to forge one of the most successful post-playing business careers of any professional athlete, becoming a billionaire philanthropist and, recently, a minority owner of the Milwaukee Bucks team for which he once played, died Tuesday after suffering a medical emergency during an event in Louisville, Kentucky.
Bridgeman was 71.
Multiple Louisville television stations reported that Bridgeman grabbed his chest at one point during a fundraising luncheon, expressing that he believed he was suffering a heart attack. The stations, including WLKY and WAVE, reported that emergency medical personnel were called.