During all his 11 seasons in the NBA, 7-foot-2 Greg Ostertag had a very specific dream. Although he shared the floor with the best players in the world, none of them shared his vision.
"They laughed at me a little bit, but I just took it all in stride," Greg said. What Greg had in mind was to one day live on a farm.
His wife, Shannon, who's from San Diego, learned of his plan on their very first date. "I feel like if I would've said no, that would've been the end of date number one," she said. "We would've rode the date out," Greg answered. "Ok, we would've finished dinner at least," said Shannon.
Luckily for Greg, she agreed to his farm dream. Eventually, they settled in the small town of Mount Vernon, Texas. Greg quickly noticed the town's rich history was becoming history. "It needed some work," he said. "Buildings needed to be painted and some upkeep and stuff like that. And that's what I told her and I didn't think anything about it."
She couldn't get it off her mind. "I was laying in bed one night and I said to Greg, 'how do you feel about buying the old ML Edwards building?"
"Uh, what," Greg asked. "You wanna buy a what? We, as a team, as a husband and wife, decided to give an effort to help pull this town back."
They started by fixing up a coffee shop on the corner. Then they moved on to the old general store and finally turned one of the town's oldest homes into a charming bed and breakfast.
Shannon has been the driving force behind it all, while Greg provides comic relief. He was regularly making faces behind Shannon during this interview. It's a wonder they even get work done.
"We don't," Shannon said. "And that's why he's usually not allowed on the jobsite."
Greg and Shannon say they have much more planned for Mount Vernon, but they've already helped give its historic downtown new life. "It's about preserving the history and the stories that are told in that building and it's the ability to be a part of something bigger than yourself," she said.
Greg and Shannon restored the old buildings because they love Mount Vernon, but they say making a difference isn't about what others can see. It's about what you do when only the camera is watching and fittingly, Greg was still making faces in front of the lens.