Emanoul Aghassian ( fa, ایمانوئل آغاسيان, anglicized as Emmanuel "Mike" Agassi; December 25, 1930 – September 24, 2021) was an Iranian Olympic

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: *Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom *Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe eel, ...

and the father and coach of American tennis player

Andre Agassi Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is an eight-time major champion and an Olympic gold medalist, as well as a runner-up in seven other majors. Agassi is the second of five men to ac ...

. He represented Iran at the

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

and 1952 Summer Olympics.

Biography

Agassi was born in

Salmas Salmas ( fa, سلماس; ; ; ; syr, ܣܵܠܵܡܵܣ, Salamas) is the capital of Salmas County, West Azerbaijan Province in Iran. It is located northwest of Lake Urmia, near Turkey. According to the 2019 census, the city's population is 127,864. ...

, Pahlavi Iran to

Assyrian Assyrian may refer to: * Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia. * Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire. ** Early Assyrian Period ** Old Assyrian Period ** Middle Assyrian Empire ** Neo-Assyrian Empire * Assyrian ...

and

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

parents (however in his own words, his father, David Agassi, was a Ukrainian Armenian from

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Ky ...

and mother was Armenian from the Ottoman Empire). He was raised in a Christian household in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the Capital city, capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is th ...

, Iran's capital. One of his ancestors had changed his surname from Aghassian to Agassi to avoid Ottoman persecution. Agassi was first exposed to

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...

by American and British servicemen. He represented Iran as a boxer in the

and 1952 Summer Olympics, losing in the first round both times. His trainer was the retired Polish-German boxer

Hans Ziglarski Hans Ziglarski (Polish: Jan Żyglarski, 16 October 1905 in Białystok, Russian Empire

. He followed his brother Samuel to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

in 1952, and changed his name to "Mike Agassi". Less than a month after graduating from

Roosevelt University Roosevelt University is a Private school, private university with campuses in Chicago and Schaumburg, Illinois, Schaumburg, Illinois. Founded in 1945, the university was named in honor of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Frankli ...

, he met Elizabeth Dudley through a common friend. They married at a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

church in Chicago's North Side on August 19, 1959. When a friend offered Agassi a job at the Tropicana Hotel, the couple moved to

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish language, Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the List of United States cities by population, 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the U.S. state, state of Neva ...

with their two-year-old daughter Rita and eight-day-old son Phillip in October 1962; daughter Tamara (Tami) was born in 1967 and Andre in 1970. Agassi described Rita, Phillip, and Tami as "

guinea pigs The guinea pig or domestic guinea pig (''Cavia porcellus''), also known as the cavy or domestic cavy (), is a species of rodent belonging to the genus '' Cavia'' in the family Caviidae. Breeders tend to use the word ''cavy'' to describe the ...

" 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 A regimen is a plan, or course of action such as a diet, exercise or medical treatment. A low-salt diet is a regimen. A course of penicillin is a regimen, and there are many chemotherapy regimens in the treatment of cancer. History The work, ' ...

, married

Pancho Gonzales Ricardo Alonso "Pancho" González (May 9, 1928 – July 3, 1995), known sometimes as Richard Gonzales, was an American tennis player. He won 15 major singles titles, including two U.S. National Singles Championships in 1948 and 1949, and 13 P ...

. In his autobiography ''Open'', Andre recalled Mike and

Steffi Graf Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 for a record 377 weeks and won 22 major singles titles, ...

's father Peter nearly coming to blows arguing over whether Andre or Steffi had the superior

backhand The backhand is a shot used in most racket sports, such as tennis and pickleball, where the back of the hand precedes the palm when swinging the racket. Except in the phrase ''backhand volley'', the term refers to a groundstroke (where the b ...

technique when Mike showed Peter the machine he built to fire tennis balls at Andre and his siblings. Mike Agassi's autobiography ''The Agassi Story'' was published in 2004. He died on September 24, 2021, at the age of 90, in Las Vegas.

1948 Olympic results

Below is the record of Emmanuel Agassi, an Iranian bantamweight boxer, who competed at the 1948 London Olympics: * Round of 32: Lost to Alvaro Vicente (Spain) on points

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agassi, Emmanuel 1930 births 2021 deaths Boxers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Boxers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers of Iran Iranian people of Armenian descent Iranian Assyrian people Iranian emigrants to the United States Iranian male boxers American male boxers Armenian male boxers Sportspeople from Las Vegas People from Salmas Iranian Christians Armenian Apostolic Christians American tennis coaches American people of Armenian descent American people of Iranian-Assyrian descent Roosevelt University alumni Bantamweight boxers Andre Agassi

Biography

1948 Olympic results

See also

References