Tom Garvey, a resident of Ambler, was recently featured in an article by KYW Newsradio titled “Meet Tom Garvey: The man who secretly lived inside The Vet”.

According to the article, from October 1979 through the end of 1981, he turned a storage room inside Veterans Stadium into his bedroom, for which he never paid rent or utilities because nobody, including the city, the Eagles or the Phillies, knew he was there.

He documented his life story in a 2020 book titled “The Secret Apartment.” From its description:

If I overheard anyone telling this story in a bar or at a party, I wouldn’t believe it either. But I must confess, I’d probably “scooch” a little closer, eavesdropping, unable to walk away. I’d have to find out how this yarn unraveled.

Let’s begin an implausible story with a seemingly simple yet complex question.

If you were single, never married with no children or dependents, would you, if you had the opportunity, have lived “on the down low” in a secret apartment in Veterans Stadium?

In this proposal we have an off the wall South Philly version of “The Phantom of the Opera,” but the larger notion this question begs could easily challenge the inner demons of sports fans anywhere. If you had an opportunity to live in a major sports stadium of a team you grew up loving, what would you have done?
In my case: I could, so I did.

For the details on how the situation came about, you can read KYW Newsradio’s article here. For an audio recording of his interview, you can click here.

In 2015, Garvey published “Many Beaucoup Magics” which chronicles his experiences as a soldier in Vietnam.

Photos courtesy of Amazon.com, KYW Newsradio