Know Your Mayors (21 of 21)- Jerry Abramson of Louisville, Ky.

Those who follow college basketball religiously may think that University of Louisville men's basketball coach Rick Pitino (pictured here) is the mayor of Derby Town, but that distinction actually belongs to Mayor Jerry Abramson (also pictured here).

The Democratic-mayor is the longest serving mayor in Louisville, Ky.'s 252-year history according to the mayor's web site.

Abramson initially served as mayor from 1986-1999, but he came back to office in 2003, and he has been an incumbent ever since.

Among his major accomplishments is unifying city and county government, overseeing a dramatic transformation of the community in the sectors of public safety, and expanding the city's airport, waterfront and downtown area (according to the mayor's web site).

In 2003, Abrahamson was named local public official of the year by "Governing" magazine.

He has been nicknamed "Mayor for Life."

Abrahamson will be running for lt. gov. along with incumbent Democratic Governor Steve Beshear, who is seeking reelection in 2011.

As for the Louisville Cardinals, they face the University of California in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Ironically, that school is the alma mater of our last entry in this series Kevin Johnson of Sacramento, Calif., who played for the Phoenix Suns in the NBA.

Know Your Mayors (20 of 21) Kevin Johnson of Sacramento, Calif.

We continue our long-running series with one of two big city mayors who once played pro hoops in the NBA. Kevin Johnson, the mayor of Sacramento, Calif., played for the Phoenix Suns in the late '80s and '90s. The Suns were one of several teams who won the Western Conference only to lose to Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls in the NBA finals. Dave Bing, a former Detroit Pistons star and current Detroit mayor, is the other former NBA player in charge of city government.

Johnson, who turned 44 on March 4 (I turned 40 on the same day), has become a high profile mayor because Sacramento is California's capital and because he was a star player in the NBA. He has appeared on Fox, CNN and MSNBC as well as "The Colbert Report" on Comedy Central.

The Sacramento mayor, a Democrat who was sworn into office in 2008, regularly consults with his counterparts, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg (New York), Adrien Fenty (Washington, DC) and Cory Booker (Newark, NJ). Both Fenty and Booker were profiled earlier in this series.

Johnson has also met with President Barack Obama three times since becoming mayor to disccuss regional issues.

Sacramento is the seventh largest city in California. It is also home to Sacramento State University and the NBA's Sacremento Kings.