Tennis legend Andre Agassi rose to international fame, earning 60 men's single titles, including 8 Grand Slam single championships, over a 20-year career. A former World No. 1 tennis player, Agassi is the only male player to win all four Grand Slam events as well as an Olympic gold medal. Known during his professional career as a somewhat selfish youth, he was also known for his wild outfits and long hair. Agassi was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2011.
Born in 1970, Andre first picked up a racket when he was a toddler at the insistence of his father. Mike was a tennis fanatic and built a mini-training camp in this backyard. Equipment included a full-size court, which Mike laid himself, and a tennis-serving machine rigged to fire balls faster than the usual speed. Mike wanted to turn at least one of his children into a world-class player. He hung tennis balls over Andre's crib and gave him a full-sized racket at the age of two. Growing up Andre and his siblings would hit somewhere between 3000 tennis balls a day, seven days a week.
With his father as his first coach, Andre won several USTA junior national titles before turning professional at the age of 16. In 1992, Agassi won his first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon. More victories soon followed with a U.S. Open win in 1994 and the Australian Open in 1995. After a career slump, Agassi returned to top form in 1999 with wins at the U.S. Open and French Open. For 20 years, tennis legend Andre Agassi was one of the dominant players in his sport. He retired from competition in 2006.
Emmanuel "Mike" Agassi, who was half Armenian and half Assyrian had been a formidable athlete and a Golden Gloves champ for Iran. Mike participated in the 1948 and 1952 Olympic Games for Iran before immigrating to the United States. He put himself through college.
"My dad didn't speak a word of English when he came here, met my mom and got married three months later. Never spent anything he didn't have, that he couldn't pay for. He would just save, save, save. He and my mom worked full-time. I remember we'd have breakfast on Sundays at Sambo's, and we'd have to drink our orange juice at home because it was too expensive in the restaurant. But if the bill came to $8, my dad would leave $15. He was also in a job where we lived on tips. If people were generous, our lives got better. As a child that reality was felt fundamentally: The more you give, the better the world is. With education, the exciting part is all the lives you affect that you'll never meet."
Andre’s 2nd great grandfather Isaac Clements Jr was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1861 but with the onset of the Civil War he was pulled into military service in Company G of the 9th Illinois Infantry Regiment. The regiment fought in 3 major battles of Fort Donelson, Shiloh, and Corinth and suffered a casualty rate of over 100%. Many of the wounded returned to service to sustain the regiment. Isaac was wounded March 1862 at Shiloh and recovered to fight at Corinth and wounded again in Oct 1862. Within a year he was promoted to captain and commander of his Company.
After mustering out of the war he was able to work his lawyer practice. Wanting to better serve his community, he went on to serve in U.S. House of Representatives from 1873 to 1875. Continuing to move up, he was appointed a United States penitentiary commissioner in 1877. In 1890, he became US pension agent at Chicago for over three years and later Superintendent of Soldier's Orphans Home at Normal, Illinois. He was appointed in 1898 governor of Soldier's Home in Danville, Vermillion County, Illinois.
Andre Agassi married fellow tennis star Steffi Graf. After they retired from professional tennis they turned their time, monies and passions to giving back. Agassi spends much of his time these days on working educational programs and initiatives. He created the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation in 1994, which provides at-risk children in southern Nevada with educational opportunities and recreational activities. The foundation raised the money needed to start the Andre Agassi College Preparatory School, which opened its doors in West Las Vegas in 2001. Steffi's charity Children for Tomorrow has supported the mental health of children and their families who have been affected by the atrocities of violence, war and persecution.
The Glitter spread by the continual service of Captain Isaac Clements during the Civil War has shone through the generations and is continued today through his great grandson Andre Agassi and his family.
In the next post, I will share the story of Isaac Clements' chaplain while he was in the military. You will be surprized who his grandson is!!!!
Sources: Open: An Autobiography Andre Agassi
http://www.webcitation.org/5gzbWaTky
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