More Facts About the Guy Who Lived in The Vet for 3years
This week Stephanie Farr from The Philadelphia Inquirer introduced us to Tom Garvey, the war vet who lived inside of The Vet from 1979 – 1981. If you missed the story click over here and read it now, we’ll wait.
After publishing the article, Stephanie noted on her Twitter account that there were a bunch details that did not make the story, but were too good not to share. This thread of juicy morsels makes us want to read Tom’s new book even more. Scroll through to hype yourself up for the conversation we’re set to have with Tom on Monday morning at 9am.
"If I was telling a total stranger about this at the beer distributor, after a while I could see it doesn’t hold up against reality," he said. "I’d look at their faces & see the incredulity. I get it. I wouldn’t believe it either."
— Stephanie Farr (@FarFarrAway) March 9, 2021
HE WAS TELLING PEOPLE THIS AT BEER DISTRIBUTORS
Tom & I talked a lot about him working the parking lots, and what a thankless job it was.
— Stephanie Farr (@FarFarrAway) March 9, 2021
"There’s no respect for it," he said. "And everybody in the world seemed to gripe about the price. It was $1 when I started and $2 when I left."
Most of the furniture in Tom's secret apartment came from an Eagles player who had a suspicion he was going to cut from the team and, instead of signing a lease, asked Tom to hold his furniture for him in the storage room.
— Stephanie Farr (@FarFarrAway) March 9, 2021
When the player got cut, he told Tom to keep it all.
"It was really pretty cozy. It was never cold in the winter and it was never hot in the summer. I had some space heaters. It wasn’t a place you’d walk around in your bare feet but I made it comfortable."
— Stephanie Farr (@FarFarrAway) March 9, 2021
Once, he came close to getting caught:
— Stephanie Farr (@FarFarrAway) March 9, 2021
"One night when I was in there I heard this noise and it was a key in a lock, and I heard the lock click. Then the light switch went on and turned on the lights in the front. I’m on the other side of the boxes....
"I never saw them the never saw me. I had the lock changed up after that."
— Stephanie Farr (@FarFarrAway) March 9, 2021
He managed to get the lock changed and after that, he had the only key to the secret apartment.
Some of his friends even sent postcards to Garvey at the stadium as a joke, addressed simply to "Tom Garvey, Vets Stadium, 19148."
— Stephanie Farr (@FarFarrAway) March 9, 2021
"Most of the mail I got there was from friends," he said. "I wasn’t getting bills because I didn’t have any."
While Garvey would often watch the games when he lived at the the Vet, sometimes he’d retreat to his secret apartment during them and listen on the radio while he read a book.
— Stephanie Farr (@FarFarrAway) March 9, 2021
“And if I heard the bases were loaded, I’d put the book down for a while and go out,” he said.
"I come flying around downstairs, I think nobody was in the building. As I come around and I head for the elevator door, the door starts to open, as I’m approaching the door at full speed, I fly in there and Vermeil is there with a bunch of film canisters...
— Stephanie Farr (@FarFarrAway) March 9, 2021
"When we got at the fourth level, the doors opened and I nodded and said 'Good night coach.'"
— Stephanie Farr (@FarFarrAway) March 9, 2021
"At the top of the 700 level, there was a walkway all the way around that was 8 feet wide. Once upon a time you could walk all around the stadium up there. I took my bike up there a couple times and my roller skates. And I slept up there once or twice. It was really cool."
— Stephanie Farr (@FarFarrAway) March 9, 2021
Finally, Eagles Hall of Famer Bill Bradley, one of the people who saw the secret apartment and corroborated Tom's story for me, would like to offer this final thought:
— Stephanie Farr (@FarFarrAway) March 9, 2021
"And by the way, the Cowboys still suck."
