Pittsburgh Walk of Fame Adds Ten New Legends in 2026

The second class of the Pittsburgh Walk of Fame was honored on Tuesday, October 13, at The Terminal Building on Smallman Street in the Strip District. The Walk recognizes Southwestern Pennsylvanians who made their mark on the rest of the country. Its first class, announced in October 2025, included Andrew Carnegie, Rachel Carson, Roberto Clemente, Fred Rogers, Andy Warhol, and August Wilson, among others. Each year ten new names are added, and this year's list is arranged by birth year, starting with H.J. Heinz, born in 1844, and ending with Mario Lemieux. Nancy Polinsky Johnson, the founder and executive director, thanked the people who sent in thousands of nominations back in January.

The group spans a wide range of fields. George Westinghouse Jr. is on the list for his inventions and the companies he built, most of them in Pittsburgh. Martha Graham is recognized for her dance work and for founding the Martha Graham Dance Company, which is now in its 100th season. Charles "Teenie" Harris, who worked for the Pittsburgh Courier, is honored for his photographs of Black life in the city in the middle of the 20th century, including his pictures of Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King Jr., and Duke Ellington. Hollywood is represented by Jimmy Stewart, Henry Mancini, and Shirley Jones, who is 92. Stewart's daughter, Kelly Stewart Harcourt, took part in his unveiling, while Mancini's son and grandson did the honors for him, and Jones's son, Patrick Cassidy, represented her. According to WESA, the ceremony's emcee was Rick Sebak of WQED, and River City Brass played during each reveal.

The sports names drew some of the loudest reactions. Myron Cope spent 35 years as the Steelers' radio voice and created the Terrible Towel in 1975, a tradition still waved at Steelers games today. Franco Harris, who played running back for the Steelers, is remembered for the Immaculate Reception, the 1972 playoff play against the Oakland Raiders that gave Pittsburgh a 13-7 win. Harris was honored by his wife, Dana Dokmanovich Harris, and his son, 'Dok' Harris. Cope's children, Elizabeth and Danny, accepted his star.

Mario Lemieux closed out the list. He joined the Penguins in 1984, won two Stanley Cups as a player, and bought the team in 1999, adding three more championships as owner. His foundation has committed more than $40 million to cancer research. In his speech, Lemieux thanked Johnson and the board, and he recalled arriving in Pittsburgh 42 years ago as a young French-Canadian who did not speak English yet. He also thanked his wife, Nathalie, whom he has been married to for 43 years, along with their three daughters and seven grand-nephews. For anyone who wants to read more about the ceremony, the TribLive article on the 2026 inductees and the WESA report on the ten new names cover the full lineup, and the NHL video of Lemieux's speech gives a closer look at his remarks.