{{Short description|Armenian and Iranian boxer (1930–2021)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Mike Agassi | birth_name = Emanoul Aghassian | birth_date = {{Birth date|1930|12|25}} | birth_place = [[Salmas]], [[Pahlavi Iran|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 Agassi|Andre]] | occupation = Boxer, tennis coach }}
'''Emmanuel''' "'''Mike'''" '''Agassi''' (born '''Emanoul Aghassian'''; December 25, 1930 – September 24, 2021) was an amateur [[Boxing|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 Summer Olympics|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 [[Pahlavi Iran|Imperial State of Iran]], to [[Armenians|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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> He was raised in a Christian household in Tehran.<ref>{{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}}</ref> One of his ancestors had changed his surname from Aghassian to Agassi to avoid [[Armenian genocide|Turkish persecution]].<ref name="armenianweekly">{{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}}</ref>
Agassi was first exposed to [[tennis]] by American and British servicemen. He represented Iran as a boxer in the [[1948 Summer Olympics|1948]] and [[1952 Summer Olympics]], losing in the first round both times.<ref>[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 <br /> {{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 }}</ref> His trainer was the retired Polish-German boxer [[Hans Ziglarski]].<ref name="CobelloAgassi2008">{{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–}}</ref>
He followed his brother Samuel to [[Chicago]] in 1952,<ref name="armenianweekly"/><ref name="greatath">{{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 }}</ref> 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 [[Community areas in Chicago|North Side]] on August 19, 1959.<ref>{{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}}</ref> When a friend offered Agassi a job at the [[Tropicana Las Vegas|Tropicana Hotel]], the couple moved to [[Las Vegas, Nevada|Las Vegas]] with their two-year-old daughter Rita and eight-day-old son Phillip in October 1962;<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref>[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</ref>
Mike Agassi's autobiography ''The Agassi Story'' was published in 2004.<ref>{{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}}</ref> He died on September 24, 2021, at the age of 90, in Las Vegas.<ref name="LVRJ-Obit">{{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}}</ref><ref name="TennisNow-Obit">{{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}}</ref>
==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
== See also == *[[Boxing at the 1952 Summer Olympics]] *[[Boxing at the 1948 Summer Olympics]]
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Agassi, Emmanuel}} [[Category:1930 births]] [[Category:2021 deaths]] [[Category:Boxers at the 1948 Summer Olympics]] [[Category:Boxers at the 1952 Summer Olympics]] [[Category:Olympic boxers for Iran]] [[Category:Iranian male boxers]] [[Category:American male boxers]] [[Category:Armenian male boxers]] [[Category:Martial artists from Las Vegas]] [[Category:People from Salmas]] [[Category:Sportspeople from West Azerbaijan province]] [[Category:American tennis coaches]] [[Category:Roosevelt University alumni]] [[Category:Bantamweight boxers]] [[Category:Andre Agassi]] [[Category:Iranian people of Armenian descent]] [[Category:Sportspeople of Armenian descent]] [[Category:Iranian emigrants to the United States]] [[Category:Iranian Christians]] [[Category:Armenian Apostolic Christians]]