How to become a Millionaire after the NBA

On this first night of the 2014 NBA draft as prospective players see their dreams of signing a multi-million dollar contract and acquiring a lucrative bonus come to fruition or slip away without warning, I want to tell you about an NBA player who made his millions outside of the league.  Can you guess who?  The first NBA superstar that probably comes to mind is Earvin “Magic” Johnson, because he built an empire after leaving the league, but it is NOT Magic.  Maybe you are considering Michael Jordan, who many call the best player who has ever played the game, but you would be wrong again.

Junior Bridgeman (Ulysses Lee) is the player and incredible businessman, who joined the millionaire club at the conclusion of 12 seasons in the NBA.  Many of you may not of heard of Junior, but he played with the Milwaukee Bucks and the LA Clippers.  After getting his degree from University of Louisville, in 1975, Junior was drafted in the first round as the 8^th overall pick to Lakers, but before he could suit up and play with the Lakers, they traded him to the Milwaukee Bucks for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.  Over the span of his career (1975-1987) his highest salary was $350,000, which is a lot to many of us, but quite small in comparison to today’s massive salaries.

Sports illustrated reported that 60% of NBA players go broke within 5 years of retiring, but Junior not only beat those odds he exceeded them by becoming the second largest owner of the Wendy’s Franchise in America.  Junior loved the game of basketball, but he understood that his NBA career would not last forever and that he needed to prepare for his life after the sport. During the off-season while other players were enjoying breath-taking vacations, he purchased a Wendy’s franchise and worked there in order to learn the business from the ground up.  By the time he retired from the league he owned 3 Wendy’s locations and today he owns well over 280 restaurants (160 Wendy’s and 120 Chili’s).  Junior is worth over $400 Million today which is $380 million more than Kareem Abdul – Jabbar’s $20 million. 

Junior Bridgeman understood the premise of Parallel Career Metamorphosis that I discuss in detail in my debut book Brand Legacy, which is the process of using your personal brand to help you accomplish all of the goals you have in your life.  We all have other talents outside of the one that helped us begin our first career; we just need to create plans to make them come to fruition.

Junior believed in excelling at everything he was involved in hence his ability to do extremely well on the court, while he worked on the other goals in his life.   Junior has created a legacy not only financially, but also a history that should inspire other athletes to mirror.

As the NBA prospects sign multi-million dollar contracts over the next few weeks, I hope they work hard to excel on the court, consider ways to give back to the community because they should never leave it they way the found it and lastly begin consider the story of Junior Bridgeman  - start thinking about their other dreams and how they can begin accomplishing them by utilizing their brand.