Franco Harris, Mac Miller join Pittsburgh personalities in Monroeville Mall mural

One of the most recognizable individuals in Pittsburgh history would shake hands with folks he met and introduce himself, as if they didn’t know, by saying: “Hi, I’m Franco.”

The friendly, unassuming side of football legend Franco Harris is what artist Kyle Holbrook knew.

“When I would text him or call him, he was like, ‘Hey, Kyle!’ And I was like, how do you even know my name?” Holbrook recalled. “So I wanted to capture some of that.”

Images of Harris and the late rap star Mac Miller joined the likes of Josh Gibson, Roberto Clemente, Fred Rogers and Stanley Turrentine on the mural of Western Pennsylvania personalities that Holbrook created 20 years ago at the Monroeville Mall.

“I wanted to add two Pittsburgh icons that were not only icons, but were influential in my life. I wanted to do them justice. At first, I talked with Dok Harris,” Holbrook said about Franco’s son. “He told me that he would like to see images that show Franco as a man, not just football, because he did so much for the community and was always humble.”

Holbrook unveiled the additions to the 65-by-20-foot painting, located inside the mall entrance near Parking Lot 50, on Wednesday, the day before the fifth anniversary of Miller’s death at age 26.

“Because he’s the youngest and from a different generation, he’s kind of in the front,” Holbrook said about the centralized placement of Miller’s depiction.

Miller, born Malcolm J. McCormick, grew up in Pittsburgh’s Point Breeze and graduated from Allderdice High School before going on to become an acclaimed rapper with fans around the world. He painted with Holbrook in 2008 on a summer job for the latter’s Moving the Lives of Kids (MLK) Community Mural Project.

Later, Miller worked on Holbrook’s film “The Art of Life,” contributing a song called “Pittsburgh.”

“He never changed who he was,” Holbrook said. “I told him he was going to be a star.”

A Wilkinsburg native who lives in Penn Hills, Holbrook started the MLK project in 2002 as a way to keep youngsters engaged in positive activities during the summer. The following year, he was commissioned for the Monroeville Mall project.

“This mural is the mural that bought me my freedom, so I was able to do art for a living,” he said. “And so this mural means so much to me.”

His résumé includes work for the 2006 Major League Baseball All-Star Game at PNC Park, being awarded a United Nations Grant to create murals following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and art for the 2007 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club in Plum.

As far as the Monroeville Mall mural, the update came just prior to the Steelers’ 2023 opener, the first such game after Harris’ Dec. 20 death.

“I didn’t want the season to start without there being some tribute to Franco,” Holbrook said.

For more information about the Moving the Lives of Kids Community Mural Project, visit www.mlkmural.com.