Rod Strickland is the most prominent notable figure directly from the Mitchel Houses (also spelled Mitchell Houses in some sources), a NYCHA public housing development in Mott Haven, South Bronx.123

• Background and career: Raised in the Mitchel Houses near 138th Street and Third Avenue, Strickland credits the Bronx for his competitive edge. He became an NBA point guard, playing 17 seasons (1988–2005) for teams including the New York Knicks, Portland Trail Blazers, Washington Bullets/Wizards, and others. A 1998 All-Star, he averaged 13.2 points and 8.9 assists per game over his career. He’s now head coach at Long Island University (LIU) Brooklyn.4

Drederick “Ice” Irving, father of NBA superstar Kyrie Irving, is another notable resident.

• Background and career: A native of the Mitchel Houses, Irving was a standout basketball player who earned a scholarship and briefly played in the NBA (1984–86) for the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons. He’s remembered locally as a pride of the development and influenced his son’s path to stardom.567

The development has strong basketball ties, including the gym renamed for Hugh “Hubert” Evans (1924–2022), a Basketball Hall of Famer (1993) and Rucker Park legend who served as its first community center director in the late 1960s–early 1970s. NBA stars like Nate Archibald and Rod Strickland honed skills there, but Evans was staff, not a resident.8

No major celebrities, rappers, or other widely famous figures (e.g., actors or musicians) are prominently documented as growing up there, unlike nearby Patterson Houses (Iran Barkley, Nate Archibald) or other Bronx NYCHA sites.9 Local Facebook groups and histories highlight community pride in basketball alumni but few national names beyond these.10

There isn’t (as far as I can verify) an official NYCHA-published “famous residents” roster for Mitchel Houses. What is publicly documented comes mostly from (1) athlete interviews/biographies, (2) arts auction/gallery bios, and (3) news coverage of tenant leaders and organizers. Based on those sources, the most clearly documented “came from Mitchel Houses” names include an NBA star (Rod Strickland) and major South Bronx graffiti-era artists (A-One, and likely Kool Koor), plus several widely cited tenant/political organizers who are current or longtime residents. 1

Mitchel Houses (NYCHA) — which development you mean

Mitchel Houses (named for former NYC mayor John Purroy Mitchel) is a NYCHA development in Mott Haven (South Bronx), completed in 1966, consisting of 10 buildings (17–20 stories) plus a non-residential building, on a ~16-acre site. 1

Famous / notable people documented as being from (or longtime residents of) Mitchel Houses

1) Rod Strickland — NBA point guard (basketball)

Connection to Mitchel Houses: NYCHA’s own publication describes Rod Strickland as a former Mitchel Houses resident who grew up at Mitchel Houses. 2
What made him famous: Strickland played 17 years in the NBA and notably led the NBA in total assists in 1997–98. 3
Why he matters in NYC hoops history: He’s frequently mentioned as part of the long NYCHA-to-basketball pipeline, and in interviews he’s linked to the Mitchel Houses gym culture (where a lot of South Bronx talent developed). 2

2) Drederick Irving — Boston University basketball star (and Kyrie Irving’s father)

Connection to Mitchel Houses: A SLAM feature notes that Rod Strickland and Drederick Irving (Kyrie Irving’s dad) grew up in the same South Bronx housing projects, spending huge amounts of time playing in the Mitchel Houses gym. 4
What made him notable: Drederick Irving was a standout at Boston University and was inducted into the BU Athletic Hall of Fame (BU Athletics describes him as one of the school’s most prolific scorers). 5
Why people know his name: Beyond his own playing career, he’s widely known as a key influence in the development of NBA champion Kyrie Irving—so he’s often discussed in sports media as an “NBA father” with a serious basketball résumé. 6

3) A-One (Anthony Clark) — pioneering graffiti / post-graffiti artist

Connection to Mitchel Houses: Multiple art-reference sources state that A-One grew up in the Mitchel Houses in the South Bronx. 7
What made him famous: A-One is known as a key figure who helped push 1970s/80s Bronx graffiti into the broader contemporary art world (often described via his “aerosol expressionism” approach and his role in early post-graffiti shows). 7
Notable career highlights (as commonly cited):

• Friend/collaborator in the broader downtown art orbit that included Jean-Michel Basquiat (Basquiat even painted him in works referenced in major art listings). 7
• Exhibited internationally, including being credited as the youngest artist to participate in the Venice Biennale (1984) in some biographies. 7

4) Kool Koor (Charles Hargrove) — early-generation graffiti artist / painter (connection reported in art bios)

Connection to Mitchel Houses (important nuance): Some gallery/artist biographies describe Kool Koor as being “born among the towers of the Mitchel Houses” in the South Bronx. This is not as consistently documented across mainstream sources as Rod Strickland or A-One, so I’m presenting it as reported by those bios, not as an official NYCHA fact. 8
What made him notable: Kool Koor is often presented in graffiti-history contexts as part of the early wave that moved from trains/walls to canvas and gallery exhibition—one of the artists associated with the broader Bronx-to-downtown pipeline. 8

5) Ramona Ferreyra — tenant leader/organizer; social entrepreneur (Ojalá Threads)

Connection to Mitchel Houses: News outlets explicitly describe her as a resident of Mitchel Houses in the Bronx and a tenant organizer/leader. 9
What made her notable: She’s a prominent public voice in NYC’s public-housing policy fights—especially organizing under Save Section 9, opposing NYCHA privatization/conversion approaches (often discussed in relation to “Blueprint” proposals), and speaking to press about conditions and tenant rights. 9
Also known for: Being described as a community activist and small business owner (associated with Ojalá Threads). 10

6) Nikki Lucas — community activist / political candidate (Brooklyn)

Connection to Mitchel Houses: A New York Amsterdam News profile states she was initially from NYCHA’s Mitchel Houses in the South Bronx, and later moved with her family to Starrett City in Brooklyn. 11
What made her notable: She became known publicly through long-running community advocacy and electoral politics (notably being the Democratic nominee in a special election for NY State Assembly District 60 in 2022, per that coverage). 11

7) Manny Pardilla — tenant organizer (South Bronx Tenants Movement)

Connection to Mitchel Houses: In an interview, he states he has lived in Mitchel Houses since 2002. 12
What made him notable: He’s described as an organizer in South Bronx tenant movements (including rent-strike organizing and broader neighborhood tenant campaigns). 12

Value-add: a “near-Mitchel Houses” name people often associate with the development (but not as a resident)

If you hear older residents or basketball folks talk about Mitchel Houses, one big name that comes up is Hubert “Hugh” Evans—not because he “came from” Mitchel Houses as a resident, but because he served as the early director of the Mitchel community center gym and later had a Hall-of-Fame NBA refereeing career. NYCHA has formally honored him by renaming the gym. 13

What’s not reliably documented (so I’m not listing it as fact)

You’ll sometimes see social-media threads naming various rappers or local figures as “from Mitchel,” but I did not find strong, citable biographical sources for most of those claims (in the way we have for Rod Strickland, A-One, or the named organizers/political candidates). 2