Mike Agassi

{{Infobox person

| name = Mike Agassi

| birth_name = Emanoul Aghassian

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1930|12|25}}

| birth_place = Salmas, Pahlavi Kingdom of Iran

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2021|9|24|1930|12|25}}

| death_place = Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.

| spouse = {{marriage|Elizabeth Dudley|1959}}

| children = 4, including Andre

| occupation = Boxer, tennis coach

| nationality = Iranian
American

}}

Emmanuel "Mike" Agassi (born Emanoul Aghassian; December 25, 1930 – September 24, 2021) was an amateur boxer, casino worker, tennis coach, and the father and coach of American tennis player Andre Agassi. He was born in Iran which he represented at the 1948 and 1952 Summer Olympics. After moving to the United States and becoming an American citizen, he won the Chicago Golden Gloves three times.

Biography

Agassi was born in Salmas, then part of the Imperial State of Iran, to Armenian parents David and Noonia. His father was a carpentry business owner from Kiev, then part of the Russian Empire, who moved to Tehran, Iran's capital, during the Russian Revolution. His mother was from Ottoman Armenia and met his father during a family visit to Tehran, and decided to stay with him.{{cite book|last1=Cobello|first1=Dominic|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_TCPrdw-O-cC|title=The Agassi Story|last2=Agassi|first2=Mike|publisher=ECW Press|year=2004|isbn=1-55022-656-8|location=Toronto|pages=12–14|access-date=October 22, 2012}} He was raised in a Christian household in Tehran.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/observer/osm/story/0,,1896736,00.html |title=How To Be Good |date=September 3, 2006 |access-date=January 26, 2014 |newspaper=The Guardian}} One of his ancestors had changed his surname from Aghassian to Agassi to avoid Ottoman persecution.{{cite web|url=http://www.armenianweekly.com/2010/04/14/only-in-america-an-interview-with-mike-agassi/ |title=Only in America? An Interview with Mike Agassi |publisher=The Armenian Weekly |first=Frank |last=Nahigian |date=April 14, 2010 |access-date=September 9, 2014}}

Agassi was first exposed to tennis by American and British servicemen. He represented Iran as a boxer in the 1948 and 1952 Summer Olympics, losing in the first round both times.[https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ag/emanoul-aghasi-1.html Emanoul Aghasi] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111081615/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ag/emanoul-aghasi-1.html |date=November 11, 2012 }} at Sports-Reference.com
{{cite web |title=Iran Olympic Tradition |url=http://www.nbcolympics.com/countries/country=IRI/olympictradition/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091103132653/http://www.nbcolympics.com/countries/country=IRI/olympictradition/index.html |work=NBCOlympics.com |publisher=NBC Universal |year=2008 |archive-date=November 3, 2009 |access-date=May 23, 2009 |url-status=dead }} His trainer was the retired Polish-German boxer Hans Ziglarski.{{cite book|author1=Dominic Cobello|author2=Mike Agassi|author3=Kate Shoup Welsh|title=The Agassi Story|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_TCPrdw-O-cC&pg=PA28|date=October 2008|publisher=ECW Press|isbn=978-1-55490-362-7|pages=28–}}

He followed his brother Samuel to Chicago in 1952,{{cite book |last1=Jensen |first1=Jeffry |editor1-first=Dawn P |editor1-last=Dawson |title=Great Athletes |edition=Revised |volume=1 |year=2002 |orig-year=1992 |publisher=Salem Press |isbn=1-58765-008-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/greatathletes0000unse/page/17 17] |url=https://archive.org/details/greatathletes0000unse/page/17 }} and changed his name to "Mike Agassi". Less than a month after graduating from Roosevelt University, he met Elizabeth Dudley through a common friend. They married at a Methodist church in Chicago's North Side on August 19, 1959.{{cite book|title=The Agassi Story |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_TCPrdw-O-cC |first1=Dominic |last1=Cobello |first2=Mike |last2=Agassi |year=2004 |location=Toronto |publisher=ECW Press |pages=64 |isbn=1-55022-656-8 |access-date=May 17, 2017}} When a friend offered Agassi a job at the Tropicana Hotel, the couple moved to Las Vegas with their two-year-old daughter Rita and eight-day-old son Phillip in October 1962;{{cite book|title=The Agassi Story |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_TCPrdw-O-cC |first1=Dominic |last1=Cobello |first2=Mike |last2=Agassi |year=2004 |location=Toronto |publisher=ECW Press |pages=69 |isbn=1-55022-656-8 |access-date=May 18, 2017}} daughter Tamara (Tami) was born in 1967 and Andre in 1970.

Agassi described Rita, Phillip, and Tami as "guinea pigs" in the development of the methods he used to mold Andre into a world-class player. In 1984, Rita, having rebelled against her father's 5,000-balls-a-day-regimen, married Pancho Gonzales. In his autobiography Open, Andre recalled Mike and Steffi Graf's father Peter nearly coming to blows arguing over whether Andre or Steffi had the superior backhand technique when Mike showed Peter the machine he built to fire tennis balls at Andre and his siblings.[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10497614/Peter-Graf-obituary.html "Peter Graf Obituary" (December 4, 2013)] The Daily Telegraph; retrieved May 18, 2017

Mike Agassi's autobiography The Agassi Story was published in 2004.{{cite book |last1=Agassi |first1=Mike |last2=Cobello |first2=Dominic |last3=Welsh |first3=Kate Shoup |title=The Agassi Story |date=2004 |publisher=ECW Press |isbn=978-1-55022-656-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5ownmQEACAAJ |language=en}} He died on September 24, 2021, at the age of 90, in Las Vegas.{{cite news |last1=Katsilometes |first1=John |url=https://www.reviewjournal.com/entertainment/entertainment-columns/kats/mike-agassi-father-of-andre-agassi-dies-in-las-vegas-2449513/ |work=Las Vegas Review-Journal |title=Mike Agassi, father of Andre Agassi, dies in Las Vegas |access-date=October 2, 2021 |date=September 29, 2021}}{{cite web |title=Mike Agassi, Andre's Dad, Dies at Age 90 |url=https://www.tennisnow.com/Blogs/NET-POSTS/September-2021-(1)/Mike-Agassi,-Andre-s-Dad,-Dies-at-Age-90.aspx |website=www.tennisnow.com |access-date=October 2, 2021}}