When he was in sixth grade, Adam Hammer wrote about how his dream was to walk onto the football field at Oklahoma State University, just like Vince Papale did with the Eagles.
He was nervous because at the time, he was the shortest player on the team and only weighed about 45 pounds, but Adam knew he ran as fast as a deer and could hit like a buffalo.
Years (and about six inches in height) later, for his 18th birthday, Adam was set to visit Oklahoma State University with a friend who studied there in order to look into enrolling and playing football.
Unfortunately, Adam would never get the opportunity to set foot on that field. On Sept. 28, 2004, a week before his 18th birthday, Adam was killed in a carjacking gone wrong at Sunoco A-Plus mini-market on Queen Lane in Germantown.
“He was a baby,” said Sophia Fleming, Adam’s mother. “They took him from me as a baby. He had plans.”
Adam was born on Oct. 6, 1986 to Sophia Fleming and Michael Hammer, and grew up in the Manayunk section of Philadelphia. The youngest of three children, Adam had two older brothers, Daniel and Michael Hammer.
Although Daniel was about seven years older than Michael and Adam, who were only 15 months apart, they were “like peas in a pod.”
“My sons were all different, but together they completed each other,” Sophia said. While Michael was very shy, Danny was outgoing and Adam was a comedian. All three of them played baseball, basketball and football for the Wissahickon Athletic League.
In sixth grade, Adam was diagnosed with ADHD after one too many times disrupting the class with his jokes. Sophia remembers all of the times she’d get called into the teacher’s classroom, urging them to keep him engaged.
“He really made me work as a mom,” she said laughing.
As he got older, Adam was slowly able to learn how to keep himself busy, but still kept his comedic charm, and his antics never slowed down.
Sophia remembers the time when Danny’s girlfriend bought lingerie, and for fun, Adam tried it on. Unable to get it off, he ran around the house, hiding away from his family’s teasing laughs and camera flashes.
Whenever he’d meet someone for the first time, he’d try and find a way to rap their name with words that rhymed.
While Adam had a lot of friends, one thing Sophia prides her son in is that he never faked who he was or who he liked.
“He was for real,” Sophia said. “He didn’t play, he never wore a mask. If he liked you, he loved you. If he didn’t, you knew it.”
In his free time, Adam made music, or as he called it “bee bopping” on his computer with his organ. He listened to and created all types of music, from 2Pac to Stevie Nicks.
“I always thought that he was a young man, out of all the boys, with a very old soul,” Sophia said.
Adam’s family moved quite a bit; born in Manayunk, he moved to Roxborough in 1998, by 2002 they moved up to New Jersey for Sophia’s job. A year later he moved into a house in Germantown with his two brothers, their girlfriends and two other friends.
When he lived in New Jersey, Adam went to Burlington Township High School to take GED classes at night. Once he moved back to Philadelphia, he worked with his roommate’s father’s roofing company.
At the same time he moved to Germantown, Adam and Danny were gifted two white pit bulls, Milo and Maize, who were too young to be away from their mother. While Maize died, Adam would keep Milo in his pocket for warmth and bottle-fed him. After his death, Sophia had to, unfortunately, take the dog to an animal shelter as he started becoming aggressive towards men.
“I went to the shelter crying because it was Adam’s dog but I just couldn’t keep him,” Sophia said.
Even though 16 years have passed since Adam’s death, not a day goes by where Sophia doesn’t think about him. She wonders what kind of man he would’ve been and holds on to his memories dearly.
“I’ve dreamt about him for a long time where he tells me, ‘I’m all right, mom, I’m all right, don’t worry,” but you have a broken heart for the rest of your life,” she said.
A reward of up to $20,000 is available to anyone that comes forward with information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the persons responsible for Adam’s murder. Anonymous calls can be submitted by calling the Citizens Crime Commission at 215-546-TIPS.
Resources are available for people and communities that have endured gun violence in Philadelphia. Click here for more information.
