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He has ethnic Chinese mother and his father was Polish. He was a younger black man looking for guidance." This is my man! a delighted Obama said, Maurer recalled. "I don't imagine the decision to let him stay behind was an easy one for anyone," Soetoro-Ng said. Electricity had arrived only a couple of years earlier. When kids teased him, Obama yelled back, "Curang, curang!" "But he wanted to remain at Punahou. The first family has attended Titcomb's annual luaus in the past. A spokeswoman for People said the reporter, West Coast correspondent Maureen Harrington, did not take the list. "They own it and we in it. With Obama just days away from turning over the reins to Donald Trump, Coach Mac and some of the guys young Barry played ball with at their Honolulu prep school reflected on his presidency and their playing years with pride. Still, all of his teachers at the Catholic school recognized leadership qualities in him. The photos and interviews are in the new issue of TIME, which is out on Friday. 'Many people call Obama aloof, and he hasn't made a lot of friends in Washington,' Brinkley said. Ramadi fell to IS in May, marking a major setback for Iraq and the U.S. The 1979 photo was snapped inside the home of former classmate, Kelli Allman, who was the prom date of the president's close high schoolfriend, Greg Orme. Topolinski laughed when he recalled how they both tried out for the schools football team. Asked Saturday about Kakugawa's recollections, the Obama campaign declined to make the senator available. Hawaii is a remarkable place, he said. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. President-elect Barack Obama and friend Greg Orme wait to warm up on the driving range to play golf with friends December 29, 2008 in Kailua, Hawaii.. President-elect Barack Obama hugs friend Greg Orme before a round of golf December 29, 2008 at the Mid Pacific Country Club in Kailua, Hawaii. Franklin D. Roosevelt made frequent trips back to Hyde Park, N.Y., throwing picnics or barbecues for former neighbors and friends, and George H.W. Then, one day about a year after he had arrived, Obama was gone. . The foursome, according to the Associated Press, teed off with another eight players. In a newly unearthed photo published Thursday in TIME magazine, a 17-year-old Barack Obama is seen wearing a white dinner jacket as he poses with friends on the night of their senior prom in Hawaii. But Obama did get to play in the game when the school clinched the state title. Since January, more than a dozen news organizations from around the globe, from the BBC to TV Asahi to People magazine, have dispatched reporters to Oahu. Obama played basketball at Punahou with Orme, who the alumni magazine says is now a building contractor. "They held his hands and feet and said, `One, two, three,' and threw him in the swamp," recalled Adi, who still lives in the same house where he grew up. 18:47 GMT 23 May 2013. In one photo he hugs his beaming sister. The White House says President Obama has been updated on progress made by Iraqi force against the Islamic State group in Ramadi. In his day, he was a better basketball player than a golfer. If this story is eight paragraphs, seven of them go to Greg. There are, however, chapters in Obamas high school narrative that are not subject to dispute. The sailboat the Manu Kai (bird of the sea, in English) is about to set sail behind him. A close friend of Obama's from their teenage years, Greg Orme, spent so much time with Dunham that he, too, called him "Gramps." But spokesman Bill Burton said Obama "stands by his recollections of these events as related in his book." "We were champions and I think it helped him become the man he is today. IE 11 is not supported. Thats what we did to fit in, he said. So we'd get three kids together to fight him," recalled Yunaldi Askiar, 45, a former neighborhood friend. (At the request of the Tribune, archivists at Ebony searched their catalogue of past articles, none of which matched what Obama recalled.) He rode a bright blue tricycle with red, white and blue streamers dangling from the handlebars. And from the first day of 5th grade right up until his graduation in 1979, the young man was one of only a small number of black students at a school heavily populated by the children of Hawaii's wealthy, most of them white and Asian. When she told him she loved him, he responded with 'thank you', according to Maraniss, and they broke up in May 1985. As it made its way over the mountain pass, he took in views of the lush, green and misty Koolau mountains. ", We would be like, Hey lets go to the beach, Bendix recalled. FILE - In this Dec. 29, 2014 file photo, President Barack Obama, center, walks during a round of golf with Greg Orme, left, and Mike Ramos, on the 18th hole of the Mid Pacific Country Club in . I saw an old forgotten man/On an old, forgotten road, begins the 12-line poem. They were like brothers, says Allman. It was also how he wanted to be remembered. Vanity Fair is coming soon. Wed drive around in my van listening to Earth, Wind & Fire and looking for places to play, he said. Bailey, who coached Obama during his junior year and now runs an ambulance service, said young Barry was a "gym rat. In another passage from the book, Ray complains that white Punahou girls don't want to date black guys and that he and Obama don't get enough playing time as athletes, speculating that they'd be "treated different if we was white. Isnt that sweet? she asked. "They were like brothers," says Allman. In his best-selling autobiography, "Dreams from My Father," Obama describes having heated conversations about racism with another black student, "Ray." Barry would be the only black person. John F. Kennedy had his band of brothers from wartime. He'd pick them up if they fell down,'' Darmawan recalled. From his earliest moments on the national political stage, Obama has presented himself as having two unique qualifications: a fresh political face and an ability to bridge the gap between Americans of different races, faiths and circumstances. He is unyielding in the things he believes in., I think hes done an unbelievable job as president, he said. Cook, who was 25, and Obama, then 22, dated for 18 months, passing their time discussing books and cooking. "Barry liked to draw heroes." Others almost certainly illustrate how carefully the young man guarded the secret of his loneliness from even those who knew him best. Known as Ann throughout her adult life, she kept to herself. TIME Exclusive: President Obamas 1979 Prom Photos. He thanked "Tut and Gramps," his nicknames for Madelyn and Stanley Dunham, but didn't mention his faraway mother. His love for Michelle and Sasha and Malia is outstanding. Hes exhibited class and dignity all the way through it. Because hes a pastor, Maurer said he prefers not to weigh-in on politics. You are extremely sweet and foxy, he wrote. After a recent lunch with a reporter, he winked at a table of faculty-lounge colleagues and joked, This one is with Playgirl.. But its fun to imagine that in one of those pictures, theres a girl in a pastel dress or a lanky guy in a white sport coat who will end up becoming the leader of the free world. "I went to those parties up at Schofield but never saw him at any of them." You have reached your limit of 4 free articles. But absent from those discussions, they say, was another student then known as Barry Obama. Hes been so gracious to him.. I dont want to accuse her of stealing it, but it was on the table when she arrived and it wasnt when she left, said Furushima. In it, he wrote, was an article and two accompanying photographs of an African-American man physically and mentally scarred by his efforts to lighten his skin. One of those friends, Neil Abercrombie, then a graduate student in the sociology department, frequently would see young Obama around town with his grandfather Stanley, whom Obama called "Gramps." Then and now, Punahou and Hawaii liked to see themselves as more diverse and colorblind than the rest of the nation. (Courtesy Maya Soetoro-Ng ), The life stories, when the presidential candidate tells them, have a common theme: the quest to belong. Obama never became terribly close with the children of the new school--this time a predominantly Muslim one--where he was enrolled. Obama, his mother and new baby sister, Maya, moved into a small apartment near the school's sprawling, lush campus. She mixed encouragement to keep up his grades with laments about American politics. "You need to find Greg Orme," instructed Obama's old basketball coach, Chris McLachin. He said he does recall long, soulful talks with the young Obama and that his friend confided his longing and loneliness. Their photos are more likely to be stored on Facebook than in a shoe box. The images from 1979 show a grinning 17-year-old Obama in a white suit with his arm around his date, Megan Hughes, before they headed to the party at Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii. Young Barack Obama in a 7th grade photo in 1974 at Punahou School, Honolulu, Hawaii. In Hawaii, our diversity defines us, it doesnt divide us, said Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), a close friend of Obamas father in graduate school in the early 60s. He played several rounds on the nine-hole course with Bobby Titcomb and Greg Orme, childhood friends from Hawaii who flew in to meet the president. He can really relate to people. Since 1995, Kakugawa has spent more than 7 years in California prisons and months in Los Angeles County Jail on cocaine and auto theft charges. The idea that his biggest struggle was race is [bull]." Not one of `the brothers' As much as young Obama stood out physically in the classrooms of Indonesia, so, too, did he at Punahou School, the elite private prep academy his mother moved him back to Hawaii to attend. And he clearly didn't appreciate that," Orme said. Last year, a book delved into his teenage years and claimed that Obama and his friends formed The Choom Gang - slang for smoking marijuana - in which he invented inhaling techniques and rode a car called the Choomwagon. Allman said that she thought highly of Obama, who was 'very intelligent and witty'. A high school friend has shared photographs of Obama at his prom night withTIME magazine - as well as a very friendly note he penned in her yearbook, in which he calls her 'sweet and foxy'. They're not his wife and daughters, who came with him, but a trio of pals whose friendship dates back to Obama's high school days in Hawaii. In the six weeks since Obama announced his intention to run for the White House, he routinely has suggested that his diverse background--raised for a time in the Third World, schooled at elite institutions and active in urban politics--makes him the best-suited candidate to speak to rich and poor, black and white, mainstream voters and those utterly disenchanted with the political system. The article included photos of a black man who had destroyed his skin with powerful chemical lighteners that promised to make him white. He was probably studying them and learning from them. Like Mr. Obama, he was of mixed parentage the son of a Filipino father and a Czech mother and his parents were divorced. And once you started playing well, contributing on the court, pretty much the racial aspect goes away.. He added: "I can't say that I've avoided all, or any, of these hazards successfully." The president was returning to the White House on Monday. Having their back. "Luckily he could swim. They compose notes to friends and family and include photos or quotes that best represent them. On his senior yearbook page, he left behind these words: We go play hoop.. "But it was only playing." Ann and the boy lived with the Dunhams in Honolulu until Obama was 6. They sought out parties, especially at the military bases on the island, where African-Americans would be in attendance. But Kakugawa, a convicted drug felon, said Saturday that he had never been the "prototypical angry black guy" that Obama portrays. More than 40 interviews with former classmates, teachers, friends and neighbors in his childhood homes of Hawaii and Indonesia, as well as a review of public records, show the arc of Obama's personal journey took him to places and situations far removed from the experience of most Americans. Obama is playing golf with three of his friends, Mike Ramos, Bobby Titcomb and Greg Orme. Obama, however, was not a part of that group, according to Anthony and Smith. The Obamas did skip Hawaii in 2007 and instead the friends joined Mr. Obama in wintry Iowa for the January 2008 presidential caucuses. Life without a father It was a complicated time. What Obama and his companions talk about during their many hours alone is anyone's guess. Made a strong case for them.. "He would be very helpful with friends. Mr. Obamas concern, Mr. Axelrod said, was for Mr. Titcomb, whose arrest was international news because he happened to be Barack Obamas friend.. (D-Hawaii), a close friend of Obama . Teachers, former playmates and friends recall a boy who never fully grasped their language and who was very quiet as a result. McLachlin said he told Obama he was volunteering for the American Heart Association and the president urged him to keep in touch. But those talks, Kakugawa said, were not about race. In August, Obama kicked off his 53rd birthday weekend golfing with the three friends in suburban Maryland before heading to Camp David, the presidential retreat in the Catoctin Mountains. They have a different level of affection for you than friends you meet later in life. "It's their world, all right," Ray supposedly shouts at Obama. No such photos, no such article. In his poem, An Old Man, there are glimpses of a tortured adolescent as well as a budding orator. Bendix said he and Obama learned most of their basketball moves on the playground. Still, the story of his early years highlights how politics and autobiography are similar creatures: Each is shaped to serve a purpose. "There's no doubt that Keith's story is tragic and sad," Burton added. Obamas family is already insulating itself. Basketball was a refuge, a place where I made a lot of my closest friends, and picked up a lot of my sense of competition and fair play, he said. They were. Corky Siemaszko is a senior reporter for NBC News Digital. Although the Choom Gang has come to define Mr. Obamas high school circle owing partly to the presidents memoir, Dreams From My Father, and a notation that Mr. Obama made in his senior yearbook thanking the group for good times Mr. Ramos said in an interview after leaving Oahu this week that the phrase does not describe their circle. The fun may wear off, if history is any guide. In the 2004 presidential campaign, both John F. Kerry and President Bush were embroiled in disputes over their Vietnam-era records, controversies that were stoked by the conflicting recollections of people who knew them. Arkansas is filled with people still burned from their interactions with the national news media, which descended on the state during Bill Clintons 1992 campaign and stayed for his presidency, continuing to poke and prod at his business and personal dealings. ', In his memoir, 'Dreams From My Father,' Obama recalled a high school career that was, for the most part, ordinary 'marginal report cards and calls to the principal's office; part-time jobs at the burger chain; acne and driving tests and turbulent desire. Still, Bendix said, his old pal should have been a starter at Punahou and insisted he was not just being loyal to an old friend. I am not giving any interviews, Obamas grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, curtly interjected when a reporter phoned. He said that of the three, only Mr. Orme, another Punahou hoops player, was in the gang that Mr. Obama described. Some of that crew has stayed in Hawaii, but others have moved off island. The race to track them down and coax them to open up likely will include reporters as well as opposition research experts for political rivals. It was pretty typical from there out as far as what happens at prom: the dinner and the dancing and the photos.. "It is a shame we have to worry so much about [grade point], but you know what the college entrance competition is these days," she wrote. Daily Mail Reporter Throughout his youth, as depicted in his first book, he always found ways to meld into even the most uninviting of communities. Adept at nailing long jump shots, Obama was called "Barry O'Bomber" by teammates. The motorcade arrived in Kapolei around 11:30 a.m. ___ Magazines, Or create a free account to access more articles, TIME Exclusive: President Obamas 1979 Prom Photos. Their. "It just wasn't a race thing," he reiterated again and again. ", Ive known Barry since the fifth grade, he said. "He was built like a bull. He even scored a basket," he said. Obama and his date Megan Hughes, a student at the Hawaii School for Girls at La Pietra, joined Orme at Allmans house, where the two couples sipped champagne before going to the dance and then an after-party. "Looking back now, I'd say he really is kind of the perfect combination of all of them," said his half sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng. He attended a college basketball game with the first family the next day, and this week he and his wife hosted their annual barbecue for the other families, including those of the Obamas Chicago friends Eric Whitaker and Marty Nesbitt. "But it could be a lonely place. Those are qualities a president should have. He was always very focused.. His spelling wasnt too good either, he said, referring to the note Obama wrote in his high school year book. He knew the really small apartment that Mr. Obama lived in with his grandparents and what a talker Gramps was. He struggled greatly with the foreign language, she said, and with his studies as a result. That first year, Mr. Ramos said, I remember coming home from a golf outing and literally starting to cry, so emotional was the contrast he felt between their friendships and the transactional ones he said he had since formed as a businessman. Right around then, we really started getting into basketball., Obama was all business when it came to "the game. Obama wrote in the lengthy yearbook note. On this visit alone, Obama has spent more than 22 hours with the group on the lush golf courses that dot the island of Oahu. As he listened, McLachlin never dreamed that one day this determined young man, who had spent most of that season warming the bench while the Punahou High School varsity basketball team was marching on to win the Hawaii state championship, would grow up to be Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States. I know that was hard for him.". The experience of being part of a winning team was important to Barry, to all of us.. Both of them seemed surprised to hear that in "Dreams"--which neither of them had read--Obama writes about routinely going to parties at Schofield Barracks and other military bases in order to hang out with "Ray," who like Anthony and Smith was two years ahead of him in school. He is 9 years old, living in Indonesia, where he and his mother moved with her new husband, Lolo Soetoro, a few years earlier. We have had presidents who have not modeled that super well., We had a long basketball career together, Orme recalled in a telephone interview from his home in Eugene, Oregon. While Obama got saddled with the nickname Barry OBomber, Maurer said he also "got teased a lot for taking hard to make shots.". If you look at our teams, that year I was the only white guy on the starting five. The reality was less tidy. Kakugawa explained that he had meant they were playing in the world of the elite people who populated and ran Punahou--famous Hawaiian families like the Doles, owners of the pineapple fortune, or the original developers of Waikiki, the tourist mecca. "Suddenly we asked, `Where's Barry?' The night, Obama later wrote, made him furious as he realized that whites held a "fundamental power" over blacks. Obama and his family have been in his native Hawaii since December 20 for the Christmas holiday. I wish I would have known that those things were bothering him, or if they did bother him, said Eric Kusunoki, Obamas homeroom teacher from grades nine through 12. Like Obama, Topolinski had to straddle a racial divide. But generally, said the presidential biographer Doris Kearns Goodwin, It does seem like these presidents need to find a sanctuary whether its a place or a group of people where they can just be themselves and feel the connection from the present to the past. High school friends who predate adulthood and professional attainments often know each others siblings, parents, even grandparents and know each other in a way that later friends often cannot. When youre on a school team, theres more discipline involved, he said. He laughed and posed for photos with friends. But we didnt really become good friends until the seventh grade. The three men - Mike Ramos (right), Bobby Titcomb (not pictured) and Greg Orme (left) - are among the few people still in Obama's life who knew him long before he was famous. He showed leadership and caring for his teammates, McLachlin said. ---------- Kirsten Scharnberg reported from Honolulu and Kim Barker from Jakarta, Indonesia; Tribune staff reporter Ray Gibson contributed to this report. We played a lot of playground ball.. "At the time, it was about basketball," said Orme, who has remained friends with Obama over the years and who plays basketball with him almost every Christmas when the two return to Hawaii to visit family. 'He and I really clicked,' she told TIME. I always knew he would do something, of course we never expected hed be in the White House, teammate and lifelong friend Greg Orme said. Aging photos show Obama and Orme decked out in 1970s fashion with their dates before attending a high school prom. President Obama may have had a tough couple of weeks, but newly-released images will remind him of his more carefree days. "We'd all do things together, but Obama was never there," Smith said, adding that they often brought along the few other black underclassmen. I get one, maybe.. Then his young mother, now divorced, met and married an Indonesian student studying at the University of Hawaii. A youth living in a distant land searches and finds new friends, a new language and a heartbreaking lesson about his identity in the pages of an American magazine. His character, the way he conducts himself, thats always been his footprint. Even though Trump is a loose cannon at least he will stick up for what he believes.. Obama confirmed in an interview earlier this month that the Ray character in "Dreams" actually is Kakugawa. His biggest struggles were his feelings of abandonment. Instead we are producing Richard Nixons." Daily Mail Reporter, Images show Obama ahead of his prom night in Honolulu in 1979, The Obamas to return to Martha's Vineyard? The Latest: Obamas, friends tour Hawaii Islamic arts center Now, I think hes a better golfer., Orme and Obama became pals not long after the future president arrived at Punahou as a fifth grader. Pothead. They were joined by two other teenagers - his best friend Greg Orme and date Kelli McCormack. Yet even Obama has acknowledged the limits of memoir. "He never verbalized any of that," Orme said during a telephone interview from his home in Oregon. When asked about the discrepancy, Obama said in a recent interview, "It might have been an Ebony or it might have been who knows what it was?" The three men Mike Ramos, Bobby Titcomb and Greg. With rain drizzling over Oahu, Obama's motorcade whisked Obama across the island to Titcomb's beachside home in Waialua, about an hour outside of Honolulu on the North Shore. Some of these discrepancies are typical of childhood memories -- fuzzy in specifics, warped by age, shaped by writerly license.