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(Photo by Dennis Nett / The Post-Standard, 2012)

Syracuse, NY -- Rakeem Christmas remembers the proximity of beaches he rarely visited because their daily presence made them mundane. He remembers the slow, languid feel of the place, a vibe that would contrast sharply with the raw rush of Philadelphia. He remembers a sunny childhood pocked by occasional bouts of boredom.



"Life for Rakeem," his aunt Amira Hamid said, "was about as easy-breezy as you could get."



He does not remember his mother, the woman who brought him from New Jersey to St. Croix when he was 2 to live with her extended family. He does not remember the details of Landra "Jenny" Hamid's battle with Lupus or her death, at age 28, from kidney failure.

Rakeem Christmas' family visits during Midnight Madness. (from left to right) Amira Hamid, Evelyn Hamid, Rakeem, Hannah Montoute, Jasmine Hamid-Montoute and Aaron Montoute.

He was 5 years old — her only child — when she died.



"During her funeral, I don't think I was crying or anything," he said. "I was just there not knowing what was happening. I really don't remember anything at all."



Christmas is a sophomore forward at Syracuse now, the latest destination in a journey that spans three states and the Virgin Islands. How he got here is a remarkable story of a family's determination to raise a child and how that child's startling size and athletic ability brought him to America. His island upbringing might also explain Christmas' carefree court persona and the daily basketball battles he wages with himself to infuse his play with intensity.



Christmas lived in St. Croix with his grandmother until he was 13, when his college-aged aunt acquiesced to his annual pleas to take him in. Amira Hamid, then a 22-year-old graduate of Drexel University, assumed guardianship of Christmas and shepherded him through high school and the intense recruiting process.



It was, she said, the natural progression of her relationship with her nephew. The two, the youngest in the extended Hamid family, grew up like siblings.



"I understand from the outside looking in, why it might be a big deal," she said. "But you just do what you have to do."



Christmas, though, credits his aunt with protecting him from the vulture culture of the college recruiting process, with emphasizing education and with allowing him to be a kid in a process that can overwhelm even its most savvy navigational experts.



"She took over everything with him," SU coach Jim Boeheim said, "and without her he would never have been here."



Rakeem Christmas played baseball, the sports passion of the island nations. He pitched, played first base and the outfield and was, by his account, good enough to warrant an invitation to a traveling Virgin Islands team. But as he grew and grew, soreness set into his arm and people started suggesting he attempt a sport where his persistent height would be more beneficial.



"In seventh grade, everybody was telling me, 'You're getting kind of tall, you should probably play basketball,'" Christmas said.



But nobody played serious basketball in St. Croix. And Christmas, every summer, visited his aunt in Philadelphia, where she studied chemical engineering. As he approached his teens, Christmas grew bored with claustrophobic St. Croix and longed to discover a world beyond familiar island confines.

On every visit to Philadelphia, he would plead with Aunt Amira to allow him to live there. She placated him with the promise that once she graduated college, she would permit it.



"I was in Drexel's engineering program and I didn't have much time to go to school and look after a little kid," Amira Hamid said. "He was there for my graduation and he never left."



Christmas had to wash dishes and make his bed. Hamid chose which schools her nephew attended, and demanded that he commit to his studies.



"I was always strict with him but I didn't think I was putting on my parent hat. I just wanted him to succeed," she said. "He is such a good person, he never gave me any teenage trouble. He pretty much listened to me. And I never wanted him to think I was replacing my sister."



Initially, his Philadelphia classmates teased him for his island accent, a lilt he can resurrect on command. They teased him for his height.



But soon, word started filtering through Philadelphia basketball circles about the raw talent at Pepper Middle School. Rob Brown, the AAU coach of Team Final, said an area coach called him with information about "a 6-8 kid in the eighth grade who had all the local high schools clamoring for him."

Rakeem Christmas shoots over Anthony Davis during the McDonald's All-American High School boys basketball game on March 30, 2011, in Chicago.

Christmas played for Team Final, a squad that included Dion Waiters and Trevor Cooney. Christmas impressed Brown as a quiet kid and careful observer. He would watch games and then emulate what he'd witnessed. Cooney remembered one stunning play when Christmas was 13 or 14.



"He got the ball in the low post," Cooney said, "and just dunked it and the whole crowd went nuts."



"He really didn't know how to play," Brown said. "Everything he did was out of pure athleticism. He made a shot at his own basket a couple times. He really didn't understand the nuances. But he's a pretty smart kid and he caught on pretty quickly."



His size, coupled with his athleticism, drew dozens of recruiters to Philadelphia to watch him play. When coaches realized Christmas' guardian was a woman in her mid-20s, they initially considered her an easy mark.



"I'm super young and it used to be really shocking for them," she said. "They'd talk to me on the phone and then they'd see me in person and they'd say, 'Are you sure you're the person I talked to?' "



"Everyone comes in with their tricks to try to take advantage of the situation," Brown said. "She's very smart and she's very calculated. She was very guarded with him and put him in very good educational situations."



Hamid said St. Croix culture dictates that children be sheltered from the stresses of adulthood for as long as possible. Her initial impression of the recruiting culture soured her to the process and steeled her to protect her nephew.



She instituted rigid recruiting guidelines. Coaches could not call Christmas directly. They could not interfere with his daily activities unless she expressly permitted it.



"The recruiting process wasn't overwhelming because I had my aunt and she dealt with all of it so I didn't have to worry about it. Any time a coach wanted to talk to me, they had to talk to her first. She'd let me know, I'd tell her what I thought and we'd go from there," Christmas said. "I always knew she had my back and I could count on her."



He settled on Syracuse after Cooney suggested the program might be a potential fit. Cooney said he convinced Christmas to visit the school and after he and his aunt saw the Syracuse campus and met with coaches, Christmas committed.



He was a McDonald's All-American predicted to make immediate impact, but Christmas, like most big men, has endured a steep college learning curve. Boeheim said Christmas has the "potential to be great." But the SU coach has ridden him during his two seasons at Syracuse to be more physical, more aggressive, more consistent.



Boeheim wants brutality on the blocks from Christmas, not the finesse his sophomore forward favors.

Rakeem Christmas throws an outlet pass vs. Louisville at the Yum!Center earlier this season.

"He just has to be more consistent with what he's doing. It's a process. It takes time. He's trying to evolve it," Boeheim said. "He's by nature not that physical of a kid and he's learning how to be physical. It's a whole process of learning how to use his body, how to learn to be physical, how to get position. It's all new for him. He's doing the right things. They just don't come natural to him."



Brown acknowledges Boeheim's predicament. He, too, wrestled with ways to excavate the malice from a young man who possesses such a shallow reserve of nasty.



"The perception of the islands is very laid back and very different from the Northeast, where it's go, go go," Brown said. "In the islands, it's 'Don't worry, be happy.' He's got so much athletic ability and he's such a nice kid. You gotta get Rakeem to sharpen his claws and growl a little bit. That's been the biggest adjustment for him. Because physically, there are very few people walking this earth who have his athleticism."



Christmas layered his shoulders with muscle over the summer. He worked with Adrian Autry and Mike Hopkins to develop post moves and a face-up game. Boeheim praised him for his diligence. But Christmas acknowledges he still struggles to please his coach.



"It's hard," he said. "I'm a laid-back dude. I just want to get my mind set that he wants me to go out there and be aggressive and be mean. So I have to do that. I can't let people push me around. I have to be physical."



His family helps ease his frustration. His aunt, who owns a business that helps entertainers and athletes brand themselves, splits time between a work base in Philadelphia and a home in DeWitt. Evelyn Hamid, Christmas's grandmother, lives in DeWitt, too. So does another aunt and two cousins.



Former Syracuse guard and Philadelphia native Scoop Jardine describes the Hamid family as "warm, caring people." Evelyn Hamid, he said, makes pots of food for players that Christmas delivers to their doors. The Hamids watch Little Roc, Christmas' dog, because he's not allowed to keep him on campus. He visits the DeWitt residence frequently and said he talks by telephone about once a week to his father, a native of Trinidad who lives in North Carolina.



Sometimes, Christmas lies awake at night, mentally surveying the course of his life. He thinks about St. Croix. He thinks about his old island friends. He considers the beaches, the steadfast sunshine, the warm embrace of his carefree childhood.



"I'll be in my room and I'll be like, 'I'm far from the Virgin Islands,'" he said. "Back then, I wasn't thinking I'd be in Syracuse playing basketball. I just figured I'd be on the beach somewhere. I came a long way. I'm just happy to make it."

Donna Ditota can be reached at 470-2208 or dditota@syracuse.com.