Louisville lost one of its biggest luminaries this week with the passing of Junior Bridgeman.

We discuss his passing and share some of our favorite stories about the basketball star turned businessman on this week's Access Louisville podcast. 

Bridgeman died at age 71 after suffering a medical emergency during the 45th Annual Leadership Luncheon on Scouting held at the Galt House on March 11.

He was a star guard on the University of Louisville’s 1975 squad that went to the NCAA Final Four. He played 12 years in the NBA, most of that for the Milwaukee Bucks, who retired his number. After his athletic career ended, Bridgeman operated numerous restaurants, including many Wendy's locations. 

On this week's show, we share some favorite stories about Bridgeman. Reporter Michael L. Jones also shares some clips from interviews that he conducted with Kevin Cosby, president and CEO of Simmons College, Jimmy Kirchdorfer, CEO of ISCO Industries and Wade Houston, a basketball great and founder of HJI Supply Chain Solutions. You can find more from people who knew Bridgeman in this story from Jones.

Check out a few other favorite stories of ours here:

• An interview with Junior Bridgeman on the Breaking the Mold podcast, hosted by Kentucky to the World from 2016.

• Bridgeman's buy in to the Milwaukee Bucks from the Milwaukee Business Journal in 2024.

• And a 2014 profile of Bridgeman from Louisville Business First.

Later in the show we also chat about the retirement of Scott Davenport, who stepped down as head coach of the men's basketball team at Bellarmine University. And we chat about a few things to watch for as we head into March Madness. 

Access Louisville, sponsored by Baird, is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. It's available on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.