Rick Staggerwall (4:31)

Growing up on Northside Pittsburgh, we kind of grew up on the stairs. That was everyday stuff for us over the years. You know, we were going to games and we became so embedded into them. If they lost, Monday was horrible for everybody at work. Tempers were flaring. We were sitting saying, they should have done this. I'm third generation steamfitter. Steamfitter's been in Pittsburgh here for 112 years. Pittsburgh and sports and working in steel mills and smog and rough, tough guys and girls was part of the mantra here. Like, you ain't taking this from us. You know, we'll work all day and all night and all next day and all the next night to get done what we need to get done. Because we're proud people of our heritage here. And when the Steelers were feeling like they weren't living up to standard in Pittsburgh, our standard, we lifted them up and some of it was like tearing them apart a little bit to bring them back to earth. This is a steel time steal. No crying in football. Very lousy this year. They don't look, they don't have no get up and go power. I don't know what's wrong with them.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (5:52)

They're cocky, they think they're on top. They think they have a guaranteed birth.

Rick Staggerwall (5:55)

In the Super Bowl. In the beginning of the year, when we were all out having a couple beverages, we had this feeling like we're a part of the Steelers and they need us at the game and we don't have the money to go in. So we decided that we were going to go to every game that season and we weren't paying. We were just going every game and damned if we didn't. We got in there every way possible, including running up to the gate with people we don't even know. And it was that mesh fence gate and it had to be 40ft across and like 15ft high. So 25 people would lift it up because there was play in it. And then we would climb under and then we'd hold it for them to get under. And then you turn around and guards are running everywhere and trying to catch us. It was a thing, it was a north side thing. It wasn't like the whole city or they wouldn't have any money. And the tickets were probably $20, $25 back then. But I wouldn't know that. That's a fact. I wouldn't know. And so as time went on, it was a no brainer.

Sports Commentator (7:01)

The atmosphere in this town, which they now call title town, is so festive. The Pittsburgh Steelers, the mighty ones, they want them to go all the way.

Rick Staggerwall (7:12)

So that particular year when it got to the playoffs, like you might have thought, there be higher security and a bump in the road for us. Nope. We got in again.

Sports Commentator (7:23)

Well said. It's been the Steelers day, as it usually is in the playoffs.

Rick Staggerwall (7:28)

They wouldn't have won without us doing that. That's what cemented us being a part of the Steelers.

Sports Commentator (7:34)

And the Pittsburgh Steelers are leading it by a score of 34 to 5 on their way to Miami on the super bowl next Sunday afternoon.

Rick Staggerwall (7:41)

Now it comes time for the super bowl and my brother Johnny, he called me up right after the game and he said, hey, do you want to go to the super bowl which was in Miami? And I said, yeah, sure, you know. Yes. It's cope on sports, on wtae. The Steelers are gonna meet the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl 13 a week from Sunday. I looked at pictures on the Orange bowl in Sports Illustrated because I collected them to see what it was made of. And what I seen was a 12 foot or so diamond tufted fence going up on top of the rain ring. So you're talking what, 30 some feet. All in all the plan was to go over there and even if we had to do it the night before, climb in a stadium and hideout. And so I made this scrapping hook at work, ground it down, welded the whole thing and I buffed it up and it was shining. It had a ring on the end, it had the hooks on it and the whole nine yards. And I'm like, I'm set. So we ran into Winnebago and it was my brother John, my brother Kurt, my youngest brother and my cousin Mike and we're all staggerwolves and we went on to the Super Bowl. When we got down to the Orange Bowl. The parking lots were full. They were full of buses. So we get down there and we get set up and, you know, we're having a great time. We're loose and we're free and. And we're not worried about anybody. Nobody can stop us. The Pittsburgh Steelers are the greatest in the world. How can I lose when we do something like this for our team? Steelers are number one. The next day, I get up and I did my exercises and all that stuff. I took a walk and kind of like around a stadium. And then I come back and my brother and them were up, and I said, hey, listen, you want to go over with me? I'm going to go over and take a look at where we're going to get in at. You know, we can't just show up. And I'm a man of plans. You know, I put a plan in, but I'm okay with it changing in the middle. So he said, no, no, no. They were all, you know, not feeling so good. And so I go over, just me and the grappling hook in the shopping bag. So I get over there and I'm checking it out, and all of a sudden I notice that there's two sets of cops on horses patrolling the stadium right outside. And it's oval, and they were walking around. And what I figured out was they were rotating. They had two on each side, and they would just rotate and rotate around. So I'm like, okay. And they didn't even have the booths open yet for the ticket people to go in. And so I walk over there and I'm looking around and milling around and figuring out what to do. And next thing you know, I hear somebody call my name. We had a nickname. They called us all Stagg from Staggerwault. I heard my name, Stag, and I turned to look, and it's an old buddy of mine from Northside. And he goes, hey, what's up? You know, he's six foot one, kind of a big kid. I thought, jeez, I can use him. We need to get up there. And so his name was Schmitty, and so it was a Turner's eye. He said, what are you doing? I said, I'm climbing in a stadium. And I showed him the grappling hook. He said, I'm going with you. I'm like, okay, that works out good. Now we're getting, you know, around 11 o' clock in the morning, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I was bullshitting when the cops on horses Went around the bend, 20 people run over and was bumping each other up with their hands like this, with their feet onto the ring roof, went around the stadium because you could stand up on her. And then the 12 foot diamond test defense. And so I looked at him and he looked at me. I said, we better get going. I threw the grappling hook bag in the bushes, ran over, and people that I didn't even know popped us up on the roof. And then in return, we would reach over and grab them when somebody popped them up because it was high and got them on the roof. And anyhow, we get up there and now we're climbing the diamond theft defense. They're as sharp as can be. They will cut your fingers. And so I knew how to climb that wall. I was up that wall in like seconds, you know, and everybody else was struggling. All you kept hearing was, oh, shit. And anyhow, I get all the way to the top and Schmidti's coming up behind me. Now we look down, there's a crowd of people watching us, and the cops were sitting on our horses just looking up at us, and the crowd was cheering for us. So anyhow, we turn around and we're like, okay, what are we gonna do here? You know? He said to me, where do you want to sit at? I said, well, listen, if I went through all that, I'm sitting on a 50. He goes, okay. So we go in a stadium, hardly anybody enters two hours before the game. And we're like, oh, look at this. We're here, we made it. We go down and we're maneuvering around. Like, I'm thinking, where's the best place to sit? So we went. I bet it was like 40 or 45 rows back, and he's got a whole bottle of tequila. Now the party started. We're, you know, we're chugging tequila. And next thing you know, the stadium starts filling up. And as the stadium's filling up, I got this whole row. There was 40 seats that were empty and they had not filled up.

Sports Commentator (13:09)

Nearly 80,000 fans settling into Miami's Orange bowl on a rainy, windy Sunday afternoon to see firsthand which team is pro football's best. The Cowboys of Dallas, last year's champions, or the Steelers of Pittsburgh, this year's winningest team.

Rick Staggerwall (13:25)

It's getting close to game time, and all of a sudden, two dudes sat down at the very end of them 40 seats. Next thing you know, my buddy said, hey, here comes that dude. And I look up and one of the dudes from sitting down at the other end comes up and he goes, hey. He goes, you guys have tickets for these seats? And I look up at him like this and I said, what are you, the ticket taker? And he goes, no, no, no, no. He said, this is a company of ours from New York City. And he goes, nobody cares about the Steelers. They're not coming. They're too hungover to come. And I just want to tell you, you're. You're good. I said, you mean to tell me that I got the rest of these seats? And he said, pretty much. I stood up, I give him five. You know, I even hugged him.

Sports Commentator (14:09)

Steelers ready to go. Bradshaw backs up and he fires again. And there's the leapy catch down at.

Rick Staggerwall (14:16)

The 16 yard line. Game starts. I'm so excited to be there. Like, I feel fulfilled a dream. Even if I got thrown out at that moment, I fulfilled the dream of going to all them games for free. The game's playing and oh, man, what a game. We were crushing them.

Sports Commentator (14:35)

If the Steelers go up with a second TD here, they can almost put it out of reach.

Rick Staggerwall (14:39)

And within eight minutes, they came back with like three touchdowns. There was a guy behind me, he was from Texas, and he was real tall guy, but he was a nice guy. And I recall Bradshaw firing that ball. The country mouth. And in the middle of that ball, this is how far he threw it. In the middle of that ball being here, I turned around to him, I said, I bet you 20 bucks he catches this and Lynn Swan catches it with one hand and we score a touchdown.

Sports Commentator (15:16)

You look like one of the great.

Rick Staggerwall (15:17)

Catches of all class. He paid me my 20 bucks. He was that good of a guy. He just handed me the 20 right there. He said, I underestimated the Steelers. I said, a lot of people did.

Sports Commentator (15:29)

The Steeler motto, it's been the same for many years. Whatever it takes.

Rick Staggerwall (15:34)

So next thing you know, the game's going on and you know the clock's kicking down, and my buddy says, hey, go get the football. The game bow. I said, that's a great idea. Can you imagine having that? We get down there and they had cops every six to eight feet, all facing the crowd, and they were going all the way around. They were right behind the players, and they had nightclubs. I said, geez, I don't know. Let me think here. Wait for the crowd, because I know the crowd's gonna rush the field, but then I'm not going to get the game ball. It'll be a mess. So next thing you know, out of Nowhere. Somebody sets off one of them cannons and the boom was like. It was bomb level. The echo, and you could feel the percussion. Every cop in that line ducked on and was looking like, oh, jeez, Everybody ducked. Everybody ducked. And the next thing you know, whoop. I spun right through the fence and I ran over. And by the time it cleared and the cops turned back around to the crowd, I was beside the cop. And he looks at me and I looked at him and I said, what the heck was that? He goes, I don't know. He looked me over, but I had by chance the same outfit on as the ball boys for the Steelers, but black sweatpants and the gold shirt.

Sports Commentator (17:03)

The Steelers have won it.

Rick Staggerwall (17:05)

The countdown was on. And we're running out on their field.

Sports Commentator (17:13)

Here they come by the hundreds out onto the field trying to get to their heroes and posters are trying to get to the dressing room.

Rick Staggerwall (17:20)

I get out there, there's no ball. I'm like, I'm looking. I'm like, oh, shit. Meanwhile, my buddy never made it through. He was too big. He didn't make it through the fence and the cops stopped him and all that. So when I get out there, no ball. All of a sudden, they're picking up Chuck Noel.

Sports Commentator (17:35)

Chuck no goes off. He has won his third super bowl title.

Rick Staggerwall (17:40)

And I see everybody running underneath the stadium to the locker rooms. I'm like, that's where I'm going.

Glenn Washington (17:51)

When we return. Getting into the big game without a ticket isn't enough. Snappas. Can Rick push past the steel curtain? Stay tuned. Snap Judgment is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Well, with the name your price tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try it@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates Price and coverage match limited by state law. Not available in all states. Welcome back to Snap Judgment, the Super Bowl Rick episode. When last we left, Die Hard fan Rick had just drove over a thousand miles and climbed a fence into the stadium to watch his hometown Pittsburgh Steelers win the Super Bowl. But how far is Rick willing to go to be a part of the team? Snap Judgment.

Sports Commentator (18:59)

They are going to celebrate and they deserve to celebrate. We're going to get their comments directly from that Pittsburgh Steeler locker room. And even at that, you can see they carry themselves as champions.

Rick Staggerwall (19:10)

I run off the field with everybody like they flattened us in, and next thing you know, I'm not far behind the Steelers and the doors open and the guards, they're there. And they're standing there going, oh, they stopped us, because I just happened to be where the media was at. And the media was like, cameras and all this stuff, but there was a lot of wires. He stopped us there, and he said, we'll let you in in a minute. We'll let them get settled and we'll let you in. So when he opened the doors back up, I just grabbed one of them cords, said, yeah, I'm part of this crew. And I get in the door, and who's right in front of me? And he's up on the podium, Terry Bradshaw, right in front of me. And I let go of the wire. I walked right over and stuck out my hand. I go, terry Bradshaw, that was one of the best games I ever seen in my life. And he leans over and he's shaking my hand. He put his hand on my shoulder. He said, thanks a lot. And he's like looking at me like, do I know you or are you part of this? Who cares? He's happy. Shake hands. Pass me on the shore. I turn around and I look down to sea of players. There was champagne bottles popping and celebrating. I was giving knuckles to dudes. High fives, mainly. High fives, tugs. It was chaos. There was jocks flying by me. There was helmets going the other way. There was shoes getting kicked off. Uniforms were being thrown, cheering, you name it was going on. And through all that, I seen a guy that was my neighbor. He was one of the stealers. His name was Jack Delplane, number 35. They called him the hydroplane. He was a fullback. And so we became friends. He was in the local bars. So now here I am, and I see him, and he sees me. I'm about 25ft from him, and I look on his face and I get down. I sit beside him on this side of the bench. Somebody was on the other side. And I go, what's up, man? And he goes, how the f did you get in there? And I said, what, you think you're the only famous dude from Northside in the Super Bowl? And he just couldn't believe that I was there.

Jack Delaplane (21:19)

And anyway, I saw this guy. He said, hi, how you doing? And I said, how in the heck did you get in here? Then he told me, I just come.

Rick Staggerwall (21:26)

In, and next thing you know, all these reporters come running up and they're going, rick, Rick, Rick, can we do an interview with you? And I leaned over to him and I said, do they know me? And he goes, no, they think you're Rick Moser. You're at his locker. I said, oh, he was number 39. Jack was 35. They were in order. I leaned back over to him and I said, where's he at? He goes, he left already. He's pissed that he didn't get to play. I said, watch this. He goes, you're not. I said, yes, I am. And I said, yeah, go ahead.

Jack Delaplane (22:00)

They were, you know, interviewing him like he was Rick Moser. I was kind of looking at him and laughing because Rick's about five, five pops. Rick Moser was about six, two, you know, 2:30. And they're sitting down and they were interviewing him about the game.

Rick Staggerwall (22:17)

I gave him an interview. There was seven, at least seven of them. And there was no cameras up. And anybody that knows Rick Moser knows that he was like 6 foot 1 or 2. He was a big, hulking guy. Don't get me wrong. My upper body, you know, was comparable because I was lifting a lot, but not my three foot legs. But when I was sitting down, they didn't know. And so I'm giving the interview and all that's going on. I'm giving them the dissertation of. Because the questions they're asking me. I said, well, listen. I said, it's very simple. I said, chuck Noah had a plan, and we just followed the plan. He had a mantra back then. Whatever it takes. It was on my T shirt, said, city of Champions, Steel City. Whatever it takes. I said, hey, you know, like Chuck said, whatever it takes. Whatever it takes. We're winning this game. You would think that these guys would know Rick Moser. Nope. So I'm enjoying myself and Jack's still sitting below me, laughing his ass off.

Jack Delaplane (23:22)

I mean, we just got done winning the super bowl, and he's talking to the newspaper reporters. And I thought, what in the heck is wrong with these guys?

Rick Staggerwall (23:32)

And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, one of the interviewers said to me, hey, hey, Rick, Rick, listen, we're sorry we're holding you up. He said, we know you want to take a shower. I'm thinking, okay. And I look over and I see the towel boy with the cart with the shampoo and all the towels. And meanwhile, I'm gamey from climbing in the stadium, and I have real good hygiene and plus the tequila, you know, coming out my pores wasn't helping. I said, yeah, thanks. And they said to me, hey, if it's okay, when you're done, could we come back over? And I'm like, yeah, sure. Finish the interview. So they leave and I walk over to the subway. I Grab two towels. I come back, I stand up on the bench, and Del Plaine looks up at me, goes, you're not. I said, the F I'm not. Took all my clothes off in that locker room, just like I was one of the players. Put a towel around me. I said, you gonna be here when I get back? He goes, nope. You want no repercussions, you know? So I went over, walked in the shower room. It was like walking in two, like a sea of giants. I mean, these guys were gigantic. And there I am, like this little pipsqueak me. And I walk in like I own the place. I'm making is a jaybird. We're all making. And there was one shower open, and I go to it, and I turn it on, you know, and I hang my towel up on the hook. And the guy beside me was so tall that he was tiring over me. It was almost like a shadow on me. But somebody yelled to him, and you heard somebody call his name, Elsie Greenwood. And I kind of looked up, and he was looking down at me like this. Elsie was alignment. He was big, and I could tell he was looking at me. And I'm thinking, this might not be good. I better straighten this out now. And I said, hey, what's up, Elsie? I said, that was an awesome game. Great game, man. I'm so proud to be a part of it. You know, I'm just running my shit on him, and I'm trying to juke and bob and weave a little bit and feel him out, you know? And it didn't look too promising. Still had that puzzled look on his face. And I said, and I'm Chuck Newell's nephew, Rick Staggerwall, you know, and we're shaking hands. He goes, oh, that changed everything. He goes, oh, really? Yeah. I said, chuck's married to a Staggerwall. I'm a Staggerwall. And he was. She was from the South Hills. I didn't know her from a cakey soap, but I knew that there's gotta be something relation there somewhere. There's more stagger walls. You can't swing a cat without hitting a stagger wall there in Pittsburgh. And so next thing you know, he's introducing me, this is John Old's nephew. To people, other Steelers. And they're like, slap me fives. No, I'm shining up. I got shampoo now. And I got. So, you know, everybody's washing their junk, right? So after a big game and you're like. You'll refer to reflecting. What is the shower to you? It's reflecting, right? Of the day, the journey. Right. What did I do today? What did I do good? What I do, Right. I don't know about you, but that's what I do. And that's what it was. I was like, I'm in a locker room, and I'm taking a shadow. Steelers.

Glenn Washington (26:52)

Yeah.

Rick Staggerwall (26:54)

Because I thought, I'm a part of this team. I'm as much as part of this team as they are, honestly, because I felt that way.

Sports Commentator (27:03)

So the Pittsburgh Steelers and the faces tell the entire story. The joy of victory. Three Super bowl championships. They beat the Cowboys 35, 31.

Rick Staggerwall (27:13)

So we get through all that, and I come out of the locker room, and I got a towel around me, and I'm drying off, and all of a sudden, these reporters came back over, and they go, rick, Rick, Rick, can we finish the interview? Sure, sure, sure. I'm thinking I'm gonna put my clothes on and walk back out the door when I'm done bullshitting these people. But one of the players on the team that also didn't get to play, that was pretty upset that he wasn't getting interviewed was a guy by the name of Sydney Thornton. They called him Thunder Thighs. But anyhow, he's walking by and I guess sees me getting interviewed. I'm still naked and drying off. I wouldn't look up. I didn't want to make eye contact, make it worse. And all of a sudden, I hear him yell, hey, who the f is this Ottlat for everybody to hear? And the next thing you know, who walks by but the equipment manager for the Steelers who's giving me the stink eye, he comes over while all the reporters are there, and he goes to grab me by the arm, and he goes, hey. He goes, who are you? And I said, who are you? Only we use derogatory statements in it. And he goes, I'm the equipment manager for Steelers, and you're no stealer. And all of a sudden, there was a hush over the immediate crowd right there, the reporters. And they were, like, ducking and shooting away from me. I was left alone. Delaplane was gone. I'm, like, in a spotlight, and I'm like, oh, shit. And so I kept my cool. And when he went to grab me, I said, you better get off me. He went to grab my arm. I'm up on a bench. And he said, I'm throwing you out of here. I said, you better get your hand off me. And he backs off, and he says, I'm going to get security. And I said, northside answer. Well, get a couple of them. And he did. The alarms went off in my head. Get your shit and get going. I started putting my clothes on as quickly as I could. I walk out the door, I'm thinking, it's over, right? I'm gonna go back to the Winnebaga. It's done. Nope. There was two lines of people on either side, behind the barriers, all the way out from underneath the stadium. Pittsburghers to the bus. So I walk up, and the first people saying, can we have your autograph? And they had pens, and I'm scribbling Rick Stagg. And they're loving it. I signed shirts, I signed books, I signed posters. The cops were like, hey, how you doing? Shaking my hand. Congratulations. You know, like, I got everything going on but a Super bowl ring on my finger. And I worked my way. It took me, I'm gonna say, 20 minutes to get to the bus. And I get to the bus, the guy opens the bus door, and a lot of the Steelers are on a bus. And I stepped up on that bus, and I said, that was the greatest effing game I ever seen in my life. You guys are badass. And, you know, they were like, who is this? Before anything could happen, I got off the bus, all them people were there, and I walked through the crowd, and they're patting me on the back. Get out into the parking lot. Finally, I get away from all that, and I turn around, I look at it, and I go, holy shit. I just did that. I can't wait to go back and tell my brothers. I get back to the Winnebaga, and I go in the door, and they're all in there, and they're sitting there looking at me like this. And my brother goes, yeah, nice. Thanks for taking us in the Super Bowl. And blah, blah, blah, blah. I said, dude, you know, it's every man for himself when you get here. You should have went with me when I went at 10. That's your fault, not mine. I said, you know how I operate. When it's time, it's time. And he was okay with that because he does know me and my younger brother. Same thing, you know? But he said, where was you at? Blah, blah, blah. I said, well, I'm trying to be Joe Cool, you know, real combo. I said, well, I was sitting on the 50 briefs of story, and I said, I just took a shower with the Steelers. He said, get the out of here, you know? And I said, yeah, smell my hair. My hair was still wet. I had long hair. I Said, here, smell me. Irish Spring. You can't mistake that smell. And he's like, oh, geez. And I knew that he knew that I wasn't bullshitting. Next morning, my brother Johnny calls my dad up from a payphone. And my dad said, hey, you know, there's an article in this paper today and it's about a guy that snuck into the locker room, took a shower with the Steelers. They didn't know my name. And my brother went, shit. He said, dad, that was Ricky. He told me that story yesterday. The only thing that I think I was offended by was that he said he snuck into the Super Bowl. I thought I didn't sneak in, I climbed it.

Sports Commentator (32:06)

We're from the town with a drag football team. We cheer the pitch.

Glenn Washington (32:22)

A huge thank you to the pride of the north side, Rick Staggerwall, for sharing your story with the Snap. Now, when Rick returned home following the super bowl, he shared his story with the Pittsburgh Press in an article that was published in the February 12, 1979 edition of the paper. You can find the link to that article on our website. Rick retired after a 39 year career in seam fitting and now serves as the Pennsylvania boxing commissioner. He's a three time former Golden Gloves boxing champion and longtime referee and was just inducted into the Pennsylvania Boxing hall of Fame this past year. Big thanks to Ryan o' Shea, who originally interviewed Rick and the late steeler Jack Delaplaine on his YouTube channel. You can find a link to Ryan's videos on our webpage. The original score for that story was by Dirk Schwarzoff. It was edited by Anna Sussman and produced by Bo Walsh. Now after the break, an unexpected place of residence. Stay tuned. Welcome back to Snap Judgment. Next we're gonna stick around Pennsylvania where Snap Philly fanatic John Facile has the story of what may actually be the greatest act of criminal trespass in sports history. Snap judgment.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (33:55)

October 2, 1979. The day before Pope John Paul is scheduled to visit Philadelphia.

Tom Garvey (34:03)

I didn't have a lot of days off, but the weather was nice and I had two days in a row. And I'm heading up Broad street, leaving town, heading for the seashore, and a voice comes out of the radio.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (34:18)

And the voice says that in order to accommodate the millions descending on the city to see the Pope, people will be allowed to park in the lots of of Veterans Stadium, home of the Eagles and Phillies.

Tom Garvey (34:30)

And they said the city has decided that the Vet Stadium parking lot will open as early as four in the morning because people are coming. They're coming to get a good seat at Mass. Close up. Good idea for everybody but me.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (34:43)

Tom Garvey happened to be the sorry son of a who ran those parking lots.

Tom Garvey (34:48)

I almost hit somebody. I freaked out. I ran a light. I went through a light. Guy was crossing, he was giving me the finger. He was going nuts. And I'm banging on the dash and screaming and yelling, kicking the floor, because now I've got to come up with a crew for the biggest event I've ever faced. And I have nobody to work. I got nobody.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (35:08)

All Atomi's ticket takers are high school kids. His supervisors are married and have other jobs free on the weekends. Yeah, but it's Tuesday, so he heads to his favorite bar on south street to think it over over at Jameson with his friend Seamus.

Tom Garvey (35:22)

And Seamus says, why don't we have a sleepover at the vet? And we all laugh. And as the laughter kind of runs its course, we're looking at each other and we start going, that's not the worst idea in the world.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (35:35)

Tommy recruits a bunch of people in his immediate vicinity. Bartenders, bouncers, barflies to work the lots. And they head over to the vet, where Tommy has access to. To an empty concession stand that he usually uses to store boxes of parking tickets. But now it just so happens that it's full of furniture. Couches, chairs, a bed. So tell me how you end up with all this furniture.

Tom Garvey (36:01)

Oh, Ozzie, we're going to have to do some editing in here because I don't want to freak people out, but Ozzy. Ozzy was beautiful. Ozzy was one of the best looking guys on the Eagle. He was handsome.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (36:17)

So a couple months before this, Tommy's friend Ozzy, a tight end for the Philadelphia Eagles, was hooking up with two of the Liberty Belt cheerleaders.

Tom Garvey (36:25)

But they wasn't cheating on them. They were threesome.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (36:28)

One of the Eagles coaches, a religious guy, takes issue with Ozzy's sex life and cuts him from the team.

Tom Garvey (36:34)

So Ozzy was gonna leave town with the clothes on his back.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (36:37)

So Ozzy asks Tommy if he can store the furniture from his swinging bachelor pad apartment in the empty concession stand that Tommy has access to. And so he does. And then, lo and behold, a couple days later, Ozzie gets signed to the St. Louis Cardinals, and Tommy takes him to the airport.

Tom Garvey (36:53)

And I'm watching him go down the ramp with his arm around the first class flight attendant, and she's making eyes at him. She's upgraded him. I'm yelling at Oz. I go, oz, your Furniture. What do you want me to do with that? He turns around, he goes. He said, screw it. He said, take it out in the 50 yard line and burn it. He said, I don't care. I'm out of here. And he was gone. I didn't even think about the furniture until the Pope came to town.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (37:24)

All right, so fast forward again back to the night before the Pope's visit.

Tom Garvey (37:28)

And Seamus says, why don't we have a sleepover at the vet?

Unnamed Steelers Fan (37:31)

Tommy's tucking in with a bunch of south street drunks in an empty concession stand full of a swinging bachelor's pad worth of furniture. When in the dark, one of his buddies says this.

Tom Garvey (37:43)

You know, Garv, if you just cleaned this stuff the crap up in this here, and cleaned it up and rearranged it, he said, this could be the coolest apartment in the world. And I. And I'm in the dark and I'm lying there thinking, what the hell? I never thought about living there.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (38:03)

Do you remember the move in day?

Tom Garvey (38:05)

That was the move in day. The night the Pope came to town was the first night. And the next night I slept there. And then within a week, I had. I could prepare food. I had everything.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (38:16)

If you walked by the concession stand and the door was open and you.

Tom Garvey (38:20)

Looked inside, you'd shrug and see some.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (38:22)

Boxes, a row of boxes, boxes stacked to the ceiling. But if you walked in and to the end of the row, you'd realize.

Tom Garvey (38:30)

It was open to the right. So you'd walk, turn right, and then it elbowed to the left again. If you made that turn, you'd see the apartment.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (38:42)

A bed to the right where the ceiling sloped down beneath the bleachers. A kitchenette with refrigerator and hot plate. A living room area with sofa, an overstuffed armchair, and an Ethan Allen coffee table shaped like a gear that revolved. Tommy had a record player, a telephone, an artificial fireplace.

Tom Garvey (39:02)

The entire area was astroturfed double thickness.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (39:09)

What were people's reactions when they saw.

Tom Garvey (39:11)

Oh, awesome.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (39:14)

One of Tommy's first guests in the apartment was Ozzy, in town with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Tom Garvey (39:20)

He's looking around, pointing at stuff that was his. He knows. Laughing.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (39:24)

Tommy showered in the locker room. Every day. He got his food from the commissary for exercise, he ran laps around the stadium's giant concrete bowl. He trained for a marathon that way. Of course, this was all totally illegal. And not just that.

Tom Garvey (39:42)

I was working for my uncles.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (39:44)

Tommy got his job at the parking lots through his uncles.

Tom Garvey (39:48)

They had a lot at stake. They had a 15 year exclusive contract to sell all food and drink and novelties in Veterans steam. If my uncles caught me, they would have fed my ass through the machine that makes hot dogs down at Medford's in Chester.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (40:11)

So how did you avoid getting caught?

Tom Garvey (40:13)

I hid in plain sight. I was obvious. I had an event there for every day, almost every day out of the year.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (40:23)

His friend nicknamed him the Stadium Cat after the ubiquitous stray cats that also squatted in the Vet and sometimes wandered onto the field during games.

Tom Garvey (40:32)

I got along with everybody. I knew everybody's names. I knew their kids, you know, I knew Charlie the mailman. I knew Mr. Cassidy who was over at Gate H. I knew the electricians and the plumbers. You know, if I wanted something wired in there, special wiring so I could have tv, I could get it done. They didn't. Nobody would rat me out.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (40:54)

One night during baseball season, after coming home a little ripped up from where else? South Street. Tommy wandered out into center field, lay down behind second base and fell asleep.

Tom Garvey (41:05)

I woke up at dawn with something in my ear and it was wet.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (41:11)

That something was a German shepherd named Axel.

Tom Garvey (41:14)

Axl has his tongue in my ear because I know Axl. I have a relationship with Axl because I'm the guy with the dog biscuits.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (41:21)

Behind Axl, though, there's a security guard with a flashlight.

Tom Garvey (41:25)

And the first words out of his mouth were, oh, it's you. And then he said, go wherever it is you go. He went his way and I went my way. But they certainly knew I was in the building, and Vermeil knew I was in that building that night.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (41:40)

Vermeil, as in coach Dick Vermeil of the Philadelphia Eagles. He found out about Tommy's little Phantom of the Opera routine the hard way.

Tom Garvey (41:55)

I loved roller skating around the stadium at night, going around and round on the 600 level in the moonlight. And you see the airports, and then you see the rivers and the bridges and Center City and University park and the refineries and then the airport again, you know, and nobody, nobody was ever. I never saw another soul. So I'm roller skating around the upper levels of the Vet, and I'm having. I'm having a bear of a dime. It's gnarly. I'm doing the ramps. I'm doing it, and I decide I get tired.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (42:34)

Tommy rides the ramps from the top down to the bottom of the stadium. Then he beelines towards the elevator.

Tom Garvey (42:42)

I'm flying. I'm flying. I'm too fast for going into the elevator.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (42:48)

Doors open and inside the elevator A middle aged man clutching silver canisters.

Tom Garvey (42:57)

But I go in and I hit the back wall so hard I felt pain. I saw nothing in the air but these silver containers all over. And he's screaming.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (43:08)

I'm screaming, yeah, it's Coach Dick Vermeil pulling a late one.

Tom Garvey (43:13)

And there's a clatter on the floor. And they're film canisters, game film. And the elevator starts to go up on its own. I'm breathing heavy and he's breathing heavy, and he's sort of in a protective crouch. Like, what? You know, he doesn't know. And we get to the fourth floor and the elevator door opens and I look down at the canisters all over the floor. And I'm looking at him, looking at. He's looking at me. I said, good night, Coach. And I skated away. And I happened to see him periodically, from time to time. And he always gave me, like, sometimes he'd give me a look, you know. Was that the guy? The elevator, you know.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (43:59)

Tommy was 36 years old. He was single. And for a decade he'd been drifting from job to job after coming home from a difficult year in Vietnam where he'd run a U.S. army border camp during some of the heaviest fighting of the war.

Tom Garvey (44:16)

I put the whole Vietnam thing out, out of my mind. I turned my back on it, like it didn't even happen to me. And it wasn't real because that's how I survived and that's how I stayed sane. I just didn't have any time for it. I didn't allow myself to have the leisure of sitting back and thinking about things and processing them.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (44:38)

But did you have that time when you got to the stadium, all of a sudden?

Tom Garvey (44:42)

I did. I did. I would sit there up in the seats, and then I would think about what our involvement in Vietnam had been like and what we've been trying to do, but what we actually did and the incredible loss of life that was there, I found that, you know, all kinds of things came flooding back into me.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (45:03)

For almost three years, this stadium, dedicated to veterans, became a safe place where Tommy could have these feelings while at the same time living out every Philadelphia sports fan's childhood dreams.

Tom Garvey (45:19)

It was the second out in the last inning for the World Series, and it was a pop fly and Boonie was on it.

Sports Commentator (45:29)

Boom, Rose. They'll have a play.

Tom Garvey (45:33)

And the ball landed in his glove, and then, almost like it was in slow motion, nightmare. It popped out of his glove in a big U shape and went off about 2ft and Pete Rose was right there to catch it.

Rick Staggerwall (45:52)

And Rose caught it.

Tom Garvey (45:55)

And I'm just at the top of the 300 levels, in awe with some of my best friends to be in that crowd. And then two, three nights later to be sitting at top. I'd go up to the top of the 700 level, have a beer. Maybe I'd have something to write with, maybe not. Maybe I'd smoke a joint. I'd sit there in the moonlight, nothing but silence and emptiness. But there was something there, and I was part of it. Vet Stadium saved me. Because what came next, I was ready for.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (46:43)

What came next. In 1981, Tommy's uncles lost their contract with the stadium and Tommy lost his job. He no longer had a reason to be there. He could no longer be that stadium cat. His last Eagles game was a playoff loss to the Giants. And the next day he locked the apartment door and turned in the keys to his kingdom. When the vet was imploded, where were you?

Tom Garvey (47:10)

I was home.

Glenn Washington (47:11)

30 seconds station, 30 seconds to implosion at veterans.

Tom Garvey (47:14)

30 seconds. You heard the 30 second call.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (47:17)

Some 30 years later, Tommy's at home. After the vet, he moved to Texas, then moved to Jersey, met his wife and got into real estate. And he's watching on TV as the vet is imploded.

Rick Staggerwall (47:30)

Fire. Fire.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (47:32)

Coming down column by column in a cloud of dust.

Tom Garvey (47:37)

It was emotional. I felt bad because I knew there were probably cats still in the stadium. They'd never catch them all and they could never run that fist. But I realized I recognized that its time had come.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (47:56)

In its place now, two stadiums, one for the Eagles and one for the Phillies, covered in LEDs, looking like they landed from outer space. Where the Vet once stood is part of the parking lot. And all that's left is a commemorative plaque where home base used to be.

Tom Garvey (48:13)

And I've been out there with my little three legged dog. And we walked down the left field foul line, taking a pretty good measure of about how many feet it would get to get out to 306 or whatever it is and stand there and know this is where, not far from here was the door to the apartment. It's all down there, the memory of.

Unnamed Steelers Fan (48:36)

The place where he finally came home.

Tom Garvey (48:39)

And it's mine forever.

Glenn Washington (48:55)

Thank you, Tom Garvey, the man, the legend. You can read Tom's books, the Secret Apartment about his time in Veteran Stadium and Mini Dooku Magics about his time in Vietnam. Thanks as well to Judd Berthoff and to Jon Grossman. This piece was edited by Nancy Lopez. The original score was by Dirk Schwartzhoff. It was produced by John Facil. Now do you know someone who would love this episode? Do you know someone like Super Bowl Rick? Do you know someone who knows someone like Super Bowl Rick? Send them this episode on your favorite podcast app and there are more stories where this came from. KQD in San Francisco is SNAP's orbiting hall of Justice on Team SNAP, the union representative, producers, artists, editors and engineers are members of the national association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, Communications workers of America, AFL CIO Local 51. Snap is brought to you by the team that appreciates security personnel are serious about their duties. Except, of course, for the uber producer, Mr. Mark Ristich. He's convinced of all that. Stop and put your hands behind your head. That's just jokes. Notice Nancy Lopez, Patmosili Miller, Anna Sussman, Renzo Goriot, John Facile, Shayna Shealy, Cale Du Cot, Flo Wylie, Bo Walsh, Marissa Dodge, David Exime, Regina Berriaco. And this is not the news. No way is this the news. In fact, you could show up at the next super bowl without any tickets or identification. Just tell them you listened to snap judgment and when they immediately wave you right through to your premium box seats with the buffet spread and the champagne service, you would still not be as far away from the news as this is. But this is PRX.