{"id":727861,"date":"2026-05-07T07:18:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T07:18:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/727861\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T07:18:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T07:18:33","slug":"ex-jayhawk-and-nba-veteran-greg-ostertag-elected-mayor-in-east-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/727861\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Jayhawk and NBA veteran Greg Ostertag elected mayor in east Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

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WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) \u2013 From leading the Jayhawks in blocked shots to leading a small town in Texas, former University of Kansas big man and 10-year NBA veteran Greg Ostertag has a new title: mayor.<\/p>\n

Wherever Ostertag went in his basketball career, he found success. He retired having never played for a team with a losing record.<\/p>\n

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Kansas center Greg Ostertag (00) hugs teammate Adonis Jordan in the closing moments of Kansas loss to North Carolina in the semifinals of the Final Four at the Superdome, Saturday, April 3, 1993, New Orleans, La. (AP Photo\/Ed Reinke)<\/p>\n

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Kansas center Greg Ostertag, (00) leaps from the bench during the final seconds of NCAA Midwest Regional Championship game as his Jayhawks beat top-seeded Indiana 83-77, Saturday, March 27, 1993, St. Louis, Mo. At left, on his knees, is KU top-scorer Richard Scott. The Jayhawks will advance to the Final Four in New Orleans. (AP Photo\/Seth Perlman)<\/p>\n

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Utah Jazz center Greg Ostertag reacts after being knocked to the floor by the Indiana Pacers during the first quarter Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2005, in Salt Lake City. Ostertag scored two points and was able to blocked just two shots in the game. The Pacers beat the Jazz, 84-60. (AP Photo\/Douglas C. Pizac)<\/p>\n

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Utah Jazz center Greg Ostertag (00) gives teammate Karl Malone a hug during the fourth quarter against the Sacramento Kings on Saturday, April 26, 2003, in Salt Lake City. Ostertag scored 22 points for a career playoff high. Malone added 20 points as the Jazz beat the Kings 107-104. (AP Photo)<\/p>\n

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Utah Jazz players Matt Harpring, Karl Malone and Andre Kirilenko congratulate Greg Ostertag, second from left, after he fed an assist to Harpring against the Indiana Pacers during the fourth quarter Monday, Dec. 2, 2002, in Salt Lake City. The Jazz beat the Pacers 102-91. (AP Photo\/Douglas C. Pizac)<\/p>\n

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Washington Wizards\u2019 Antonio Daniles (6) goes to the basket against the Utah Jazz Greg Ostertag (00) during the second quarter of an NBA basketball game, Monday, Jan. 9, 2006, in Washington.(AP Photo\/Nick Wass)<\/p>\n

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Sacramento Kings center Greg Ostertag (00) drives toward the basket while being closely guarded by New Orleans Hornets center Chris Andersen (12) during the first half in New Orleans on Wednesday, De. 1, 2004. (AP Photo\/ Andrew J. Cohoon)<\/p>\n

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Greg Ostertag (00) of Kansas puts a hook shot over Purdue\u2019s Brandon Brantley (42) and Linc Darner (30) during Purdue\u2019s 83-78 win at the NCAA Southeast regional semi-finals in Knoxville, Tenn., March 24, 1994. Also shown is Kansas\u2019 Patrick Rickey (12). (AP Photo\/Pat Murphy-Racey)<\/p>\n

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Kansas center Greg Ostertag (00) dunks for two in the first half against Colgate in the NCAA Midwest Regional first-round game at Dayton, Ohio, March 16, 1995. Kansas defeated Colgate 82-68. (AP Photo\/Mark Duncan)<\/p>\n

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Utah Jazz\u2019 Greg Ostertag, left, is restrained by teammate Matt Harpring after he was ejected from the game by referee Derrick Stafford, right, for arguing a non-call during the opening minutes of the first half at Staples Center in Los Angeles, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2002. Ostertag has apologized to his Utah Jazz teammates for his blowup during Sunday\u2019s loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Ostertag was fined $7,500 by the NBA on Monday and apologized to his teammates Tuesday. (AP Photo\/Chris Pizzello)<\/p>\n

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Washington Wizards\u2019 Antonio Daniles (6) goes to the basket against the Utah Jazz Greg Ostertag (00) during the second quarter of an NBA basketball game, Monday, Jan. 9, 2006, in Washington.(AP Photo\/Nick Wass)<\/p>\n

He kept that streak alive last Saturday, unseating the incumbent mayor in Mt. Vernon, Texas, by 35 votes.<\/p>\n

Life in east Texas moves a bit slower than traveling city to city in the NBA. These days, Ostertag spends his time on his boat, at his farm or substitute teaching in the small Mt. Vernon school district.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would run in front of a school bus for them to save one of them,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s how important these kids in this town is to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0Wichita State abruptly ends golf programs due to cost\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

After living in Mt. Vernon for 11 years \u2014 where he runs multiple businesses, including real estate and a sports bar \u2014 Ostertag says he\u2019s developed a deep connection to the community. But political office wasn\u2019t part of the plan. In fact, he says he \u201chates politicians.\u201d That changed when people around town began urging him to run.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing led to another, and I talked to my wife, and she said \u2018no,\u2019 and then they kept asking, kept asking,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I said, \u2018What do you think?\u2019 She says, \u2018Are you sure?\u2019 I said, \u2018No, but here we go.\u2019 So I put my name in.\u201d<\/p>\n

At one point in the campaign, his 2002 ejection from a regular-season game against Shaquille O\u2019Neal and the Lakers started circulating around town.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey tried to use it as a negative, but it turned into a positive because when the lady posted it, she said, \u2018Is this guy, you won\u2019t run in our town?\u2019 And everybody said, \u2018Yep, that\u2019s the one. We\u2019ll take him,’\u201d Ostertag said.<\/p>\n

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When he takes office Monday, he won\u2019t be expecting a big paycheck or stepping away from his other ventures. The mayor\u2019s position is volunteer.<\/p>\n

Ostertag said he\u2019s watched Mt. Vernon\u2019s downtown grow busier in recent years. His goal is to keep that momentum going and help make the small eastern Texas town a destination.<\/p>\n

For more Kansas news,\u00a0click here<\/a>. Keep up with the latest breaking news by downloading our\u00a0mobile app<\/a>\u00a0and signing up for our\u00a0news email alerts<\/a>. Sign up for our Storm Track 3 Weather app by\u00a0clicking here<\/a>. To watch our shows live on our website, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

\u00a0For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSN-TV.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) \u2013 From leading the Jayhawks in blocked shots to leading a small town in Texas,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":727862,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3785],"tags":[7,11833,126,423,10131,6,90309,477,8851,23103,422,427,3972],"class_list":["post-727861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-utah-jazz","tag-basketball","tag-greg-ostertag","tag-indiana-pacers","tag-jazz","tag-karl-malone","tag-nba","tag-ncaa-midwest-regional","tag-sacramento-kings","tag-the-jayhawks","tag-university-of-kansas","tag-utah","tag-utah-jazz","tag-utahjazz"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116532079342880063","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=727861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}