MOUNT VERNON, Texas — Former NBA center Greg Ostertag has been elected mayor of Mount Vernon, defeating incumbent Brad Hyman in the May election.
Ostertag won the race with 245 votes to Hyman’s 210.
A resident of Mount Vernon for the past 11 years, Ostertag said he plans to focus on transparency and boosting local tourism.
“Taking that momentum and running with it and just making it a kind of a destination town and getting the people back involved and wanting to and believing in the town again,” Ostertag said.
Ostertag, 53, owns Tag’s, a sports bar in Mount Vernon, and said he was encouraged by community members to run.
“I had people all over town saying, hey, run for mayor. We’d love to see you in there,” he said.
He filed for the race in early February and said he remained unfazed throughout the campaign.
“I’ve been pat on the back one day and told I was terrible the next day for the last 20 years,” Ostertag said. “So I was not affected by whether or not I won it all.”
Ostertag spent the majority of his NBA career with the Utah Jazz and now transitions into public office following his win.
