For over twenty years, the gym has been part of daily life in Mount Vernon. It’s been a spot for early walks, weightlifting, group classes, and seeing familiar faces—where accountability often turns into friendship. Some people started their health journey here, while others just found a reliable place to come back to. Now, after 15 years as owners, Amy and Jeff Briscoe are handing that legacy to a familiar local, Kale Roethle.
This transition is a new chapter for Mount Vernon Gym, which has served the community since 1999. “The gym was not me and Jeff,” Amy said. “The gym is the members who walk through that building, that door every day. It was just ours for a season to oversee and care for.”
The gym started when Sherry Palmer opened it in 1999. Later, George and Joannn Turner took over, and then Amy and Jeff Briscoe bought it in March 2011. Back then, it was called Mount Vernon Fitness Center and was in the building where Blue Moon Junction is now. Amy had been a member and saw the gym’s potential, so she and Jeff decided to buy it instead of starting from scratch. In 2012, the Briscoes moved the gym to its current spot, expanded access, and kept making changes to fit what the community needed.
Over time, the gym became much more than just a place with equipment. It offered boxing, kids’ karate, yoga, and other classes. People encouraged each other, set goals, and made friends by showing up together. “We’ve watched people come through those doors day after day, week after week, and commit to themselves,” Amy said. “They commit to each other, too.” For the Briscoes, those relationships were one of the best parts of owning the gym. Staff felt like family, and members became friends. Some people who joined when the Briscoes took over have kept up their routines for all 15 years.
Amy mentioned longtime member Jim Patterson as an example of what consistency can do. Patterson, one of the gym’s oldest and most dedicated members, has kept up his walking and lifting routines for years. Encouraged by the Briscoes, he even entered and won a weightlifting competition. “He’s a real inspiration and a testament to what a commitment to fitness can do for you, for your longevity and just quality of life,” Amy said.
The gym faced a big challenge in 2020 when COVID forced gyms across Texas to close. Right before the shutdown, Amy and Jeff had invested in new equipment, which arrived the same day the state ordered gyms and salons to close. The equipment sat unused for months while the Briscoes also dealt with another small business and uncertainty in the oil and gas industry. “It was just such a crazy time,” Amy said.
For a while, both of the Briscoes’ small businesses were closed. Like many business owners, they had to make tough choices, adapt quickly, and keep going. What meant the most to Amy during that time was how the community responded. Some members, even though they couldn’t use the gym, asked to keep their memberships active to help the gym survive. Others who had never been members paid for a full year in advance while the doors were shut. “That was really humbling,” Amy said. “The community rallied around us in such a profound way when everybody was hurting.”
The Briscoes understood that some members had to cancel because of job loss, health worries, or money problems. As Amy pointed out, not everyone can keep a gym membership during tough times. Still, enough members supported the gym to help it get through and recover over the next few years. By 2026, though, the Briscoes realized they were juggling more than they could handle, with full-time jobs in oil and gas, the gym, family, and the constant demands of running a business.
“We looked up, and we were just stretched really, really thin,” Amy said. “I started feeling like I wasn’t doing anything really well. I was doing a lot of things, but none of them really, really well.” Selling the gym wasn’t easy, but it was a careful decision. Amy and Jeff didn’t just want to sell the building. They wanted someone who understood what the gym meant to Mount Vernon and who would keep serving its members.
When some buyers wanted the property but not the gym, equipment, or business, the Briscoes said no. “It’s incredibly important to Jeff and me that this business remain,” Amy said. “We’ve got a really solid member base that depends on this facility every day. It adds to the community and to our downtown district so much more than a shipping and receiving warehouse would.” They knew they needed a buyer with business sense, energy, vision, and a real connection to the town.
That person was Kale Roethle. He’s been part of Mount Vernon since he was three. He went to school here from kindergarten, played sports all through his childhood, and graduated from Mount Vernon High before going to the University of Arkansas. Roethle said the community shaped him. “I was a part of sports and athletic teams throughout my youth and high-school career and the community was the biggest part of it all, they supported us and motivated us more than anything else could’ve! It was so grateful to be able to experience such a community like Mount Vernon.”
Roethle has learned many things from training and working out around the country in many different gyms, fitness studios, and sports camps, and owning a gym has been a lifelong dream of his.” So when he had the chance to buy the Mount Vernon Gym, he said “it felt like a way to come home and give back to the community that supported him and grow upon the wonderful business the Briscoe’s had built.”
The connection between the Roethle and Briscoe families made this transition even more special. Kale grew up with the Briscoe's son, Jack, and spent time with them throughout their youth sports careers. When Kale talked to Amy and Jeff about buying the gym, the conversation quickly became about more than money. They talked about what the gym means to the community, what the Briscoe's wanted to keep, and what Roethle hoped to create. “The number one thing was the relationship with Jeff and Amy,” Roethle said.
Amy said she and Jeff quickly saw that Roethle’s vision matched what they wanted for the gym. “We just really, really love and respect this kid,” she said. “He came in with a vision, and it lined up with what we wanted for the gym and for the community.” Roethle was still finishing school and needed time to sort out financing, business plans, and the purchase. Amy said other buyers showed interest, but she and Jeff decided not to consider other offers while Roethle worked to make it happen.
“I believe in him,” Amy said. “Until Kale tells us that he cannot do it, we’re not going to entertain any other offers.” For the Briscoes, this decision brought peace. “It is the end of an era for Jeff and me and our family,” Amy said. “But it’s a continuation for our community, and it’s the beginning of an era for Kale.”
Roethle said he wants to keep what makes the gym special for so many people—its friendly, small-town feel. “Everybody knows each other,” he said. “I want it to be very welcoming. I want everybody to love it, and everyone to be welcome in the space.” He also plans to bring fresh energy and new ideas to the business.
Roethle is planning a full remodel and rebrand, aiming to launch around early August. The updates will happen in phases, starting with the main gym area. Later, he may add recovery services and Pilates. He said people in the community have already shared ideas and requests, and he hopes to include many of them as the gym changes. “There are a lot of things people have been asking for and giving me cool ideas,” Roethle said. “I’m kind of implementing all of it.”
For Amy, the transition feels right. When she and Jeff bought the gym in 2011, they looked for ways to modernize it and make it their own. Now, Kale sees new possibilities for the next generation. “I kind of feel like Jeff and I are the new George and Joannn, and Kale is coming in, and he sees a thousand ways he can modernize it, improve on it, and make it better,” Amy said. “I’m just kind of loving that little cycle.”
As the gym changes owners, both Amy and Kale hope the community keeps supporting it. Amy thanked every member, past and present, who helped the gym through its growth and challenges. “Gratitude is our number one emotion,” she said. She also asked members to give Roethle patience as he brings his own ideas to life. “I hope that everybody shows him some grace and some patience,” she said. “I hope that they continue to be loyal and let Mount Vernon Gym evolve in the way that it’s meant to.”
Roethle said he’s grateful for the support Mount Vernon has given him over the years and hopes to earn that trust as the gym’s new owner. “I’m really thankful for the support they’ve given me throughout my life,” he said. “I hope that they continue to do so. I’m really excited to have this opportunity.”
For Amy and Jeff, the message is simple: the gym has always belonged to the people who come through its doors. Now, for Kale, it’s time to carry that story forward.
For membership details and updates, visit MountVernonGym.com
