VICTOR MUSGROVE, RIGHT, WITH PITTSBURGH MAYOR ED GAINEY. MUSGROVE WAS KILLED FOLLOWING A SHOOTING IN CLAIRTON.
Was a member of Courier’s ‘Men of Excellence,’ Class of 2017
Today, V.I.P. Styles Inc., barber shop is open for business. It’s located at 413 Smithfield Street, Downtown, complete with a can’t-miss sign that hovers above the sidewalk.
Fellow barbers at V.I.P. Styles have vowed to keep the doors open, as a tribute to the man who started the barber shop nearly 20 years ago.
Hundreds of people, including celebrities and political figures, kids who are still kids, and kids who are now fully grown, have sat in the barber chair placed squarely in the middle of the shop awaiting a crisp cut from Victor “Vic” Musgrove.
But his heart, his clippers and his talent extended beyond the shop’s walls. Countless times you’d find Musgrove cutting hair at community events, giving the young ones a haircut for free just in time for school to start.
VICTOR MUSGROVE, SHOWN IN HIS BARBER SHOP, V.I.P. STYLES, IN 2015. (PHOTO BY J.L. MARTELLO)
“He was really passionate about uplifting the community, making the community a better place,” voiced Vernard Alexander of CKV Suites, about his friend, Musgrove, who was shot while in his car on Miller Avenue in Clairton on Friday night, Aug. 25. He was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. Musgrove was 51. He was in Clairton attending the first high school football game of the season for Westinghouse High School, as they played Clairton. It was a highly-anticipated contest.
VICTOR MUSGROVE WAS A MEMBER OF THE NEW PITTSBURGH COURIER’S “MEN OF EXCELLENCE CLASS OF 2017.”
Musgrove was a member of the New Pittsburgh Courier’s “Men of Excellence Class of 2017.” In his biography provided to the Courier, it read that Musgrove “provides job opportunities for people who were previously incarcerated as well as people recovering from chemical dependency” at his barber shop, which opened in 2004. His bio also read that at the time, he owned a cleaning company and real estate.
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said on social media that he woke up Saturday morning, Aug. 26, to the news that his friend of 40 years, Musgrove, had been killed in Clairton.
“He went to a football game,” Mayor Gainey told KDKA-TV. “You expect people to come home from a football game.”
The mayor has experienced a number of deaths involving family or friends due to gun violence. The news about Musgrove hit him hard. “He was authentic, he was himself, he wasn’t trying to be anybody else,” the mayor said to KDKA-TV. “We had someone that the kids could look up to and say, ‘Wow, I can overcome my own challenges, my own life story.’”
So many people in Pittsburgh called Musgrove their barber, including Courier graphic designer Warren King.
VICTOR MUSGROVE CHERISHED THE KIDS.
So many people in Pittsburgh called Musgrove a person who truly cared about the young people, the future generation.
“Vic was one of the kindest people that you would ever meet, a heart of gold,” said Emmett Wilson, owner of Stanley’s Lounge and Golden Triangle Distributors, in Homewood. Wilson and Musgrove were like brothers.
“He always donated to anything that had to do with the kids; football, baseball, wrestling…if it was anything to do with the youth and especially trying to get kids off the street, he was all about that.”
A lot has been made about Downtown Pittsburgh these days. A lot of businesses have given up on Downtown, closing its doors for good, with the COVID pandemic and the increase in homelessness and crime.
But Musgrove stayed put. Even when his business was hit with racial epithets in 2015, he stayed put.
“I was shocked, upset and mad, but not surprised because there’s definitely an issue with race in this city that needs to be addressed,” Musgrove told the Courier eight years ago. “I just feel like this was a cowardly act and we’re not going to be intimidated; we’re going to keep going on business as usual.”
“He was sharing with me over the last few months that next summer would have been his 20th anniversary of having a shop Downtown,” Alexander told the Courier. “It’s a testament to him and his character that a small business was still surviving Downtown.”
“Vic had tough skin,” added Wilson. “You have to have tough skin to survive Downtown in the environment that he was in for almost 20 years, it speaks a lot to his character. He had a wonderful work ethic, a great drive, and he was just a wonderful business person.”
Alexander said Musgrove was getting married on Sept. 10 to Nakia Walls.
Allegheny County Police are still investigating the circumstances surrounding Musgrove’s shooting death. As of Tuesday evening, Aug. 29, no suspects have been apprehended.
“He would do anything for anyone, give you the shirt off his back,” Wilson said of Musgrove, whom he called the little brother he never had. “He just did not deserve to die this way.”
Mayor Gainey added to KDKA-TV: “There’s no reason why he should be gone. None.”
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