East Liberty pizza shop owner, co-founder of Franco’s Italian Army
ALBERT VENTO | July 26, 1928 - June 26, 2018
When Albert Vento was hospitalized recently with pneumonia, his son received a call from Franco Harris as he walked into his father’s hospital room. Hearing who was on the line checking in on him, and delirious in his illness, the man known as Big Al responded, “I made him famous.”
His son laughed and protested that perhaps by catching the Immaculate Reception and winning four Super Bowl rings, Mr. Harris had earned his notoriety on his own. His father’s response: “I was the start.”
Longtime East Liberty pizza shop owner and cofounder of Franco’s Italian Army, Mr. Vento died Tuesday after a heart attack. He was 89.
It was 1972 when, after a few lackluster Steelers seasons, Mr. Vento mused that it would take an army to rally the fans. Together with his cousin, baker Tony Stagno, they concocted the idea of Franco’s Italian Army and took it to the rookie running back.
“They approached me about it and I said, ‘Let’s go,’” said Mr. Harris on Wednesday. “Little did I know the impact that this army would have, how far reaching it would be, the friendships that would be developed.”
With real military helmet liners procured from a friend who was a commander at the Hunt Armory in Shadyside, Franco’s Italian Army went to work, storming into home and opposing stadiums bearing wine, cheese and prosciutto. “We had 12 seats — two were for the food,” said Al Vento Jr., then a teenager, who got to tag along.
The Army’s high point came in 1972, when Myron Cope recruited singer Frank Sinatra to be inducted into it. Mr. Vento and Mr. Stagno flew cross country on a red eye for the induction at a Steelers practice in Palm Springs, Calif.
They waited at practice until — lo and behold — three limousines showed up and Mr. Sinatra appeared. “He thought it was like kissing God,” said Mr. Vento Jr. of his father’s reaction to meeting Sinatra. “It was one of the most amazing things to be able to hug one of the greatest Italians in the world.”
As for Mr. Vento and Mr. Harris, their relationship lasted long past the heyday of the Italian Army. “He has treated my father like it was his own father,” said his son.
“This is a guy that loved people and really set a great example for people,” said Mr. Harris. “It was just a beautiful friendship for all these years.”
A fixture in East Liberty, Mr. Vento was born on Larimer Street, one of eight children in a family that owned a convenience store and deli on Hamilton Avenue.
He worked briefly for Bell Telephone, where he met an accountant named Rita. The two married during a fourday leave that Mr. Vento had from the Army immediately before he shipped off to the Korean War. Their marriage lasted 66 years, until Mrs. Vento died in October.
When he got back from Korea, Mr. Vento opened a delicatessen, and later Vento’s Pizza, which had several locations in East Liberty before ending up on Highland Avenue. The building was demolished in the late 1990s for the construction of Home Depot, but the shop was rebuilt in the Home Depot parking lot.
The Ventos lived in Baldwin, but his father was beloved in the East Liberty community, said Mr. Vento Jr., of West Homestead, noting that even when the neighborhood suffered vandalism in hard times, none of the four buildings his father owned was ever touched.
“It’s a true testament to the neighborhood and how they embraced him,” said his son. “My Dad would always say, ‘If someone’s hungry, you feed them. The good Lord has always blessed you.’ He was a lot to a lot of people and he touched so many people’s lives.”
In addition to his son, he is survived by two daughters, Mary Ann Dombrowiak of Cleveland and Barbara Gawlas of Mt Lebanon; two brothers, John Vento and Andrew Vento; a sister, Joanne Vento; and five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Visitation at McCabe Brothers funeral home in Shadyside is from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
The funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Whitehall. Instead of flowers, the family requests donations in his name to the ALS Association, Western Pennsylvania chapter, 416 Lincoln Ave, Millvale, PA 15209