Only in America? An Interview with Mike Agassi
I interviewed Mike Agassi because both his parents were Armenian, and his son Andre is a celebrity who has a celebrity wife—Steffi Graf (you’ve heard of her)—whom Mike loves, and a celebrity ex-wife—Brooke Shields (you’ve heard of her, too). And he won’t even be 40 till the week after our April 24th commemorations. Andre won 8 Grand Slams. Steffi won 22. But I didn’t dare ask Mike, “Who wears the pants in that family?” (If she were married to Mike, he’d make her change her name to Graffian, even though an ancestor changed his from Agassian in order to disguise his nationality during a period of ethnic persecution). Andre has established a philanthropic foundation that’s raised millions toward the purpose of educating underprivileged children, and has set up a charter school pilot project. Last year it graduated 35 kids and every one of them was admitted into college. He hopes and expects to expand the program substantially. It’s not a tennis school, but an academic school, designed to help the kids make successes of their lives. But this story is about Mike, not his son.
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I am wondering why we have to reas about Agassi famiy stories here on Armenian Weekly. The article is portrayingMike Agassi as a hero, (he became from a poor family and so on….). So did most of the Diasporian Armenians, and most of us did not hide or “denied” our identity. There are too many humble Armenian who with the little that they had contributed more to their community than the Agassi family. I rather read about those Armenians than about people that after gaining some status in the society try to hide their identity.
Terrible writing. One line even said “if he had won – for the rules then blah blah blah” rather than “if not for the rules” or SOMETHING that would make sense
We are the other Agassi’s they have shut out family directly related to Mike Agassi, (my Uncle Mike) his brother, my father, who died tragically. I was adopted and then dumped after Andre’s fame! Had the shoe dropped on the other foot my father wouldn’t of never dumped them. It’s a shame! This Family isn’t real, Its always been Sad to me to be his niece.