By Mike Pearson
FightingIllini.com

National Hispanic Heritage Month (from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15) recognizes the influence and contributions of Hispanic Americans to the history, culture and achievements of the United States. This is the first in a series of articles about current Fighting Illini staff members of Hispanic descent.

Twelfth-year Fighting Illini men's tennis coach Marcos Asse has Cuban roots … mostly. Suffice it to say that it's a wee bit more complicated than that.

You see, Marcos' paternal grandfather (Carlos Asse Dib) was born as a Christian Syrian in Western Asia. His family, persecuted in its homeland, fled to Spain, then ultimately to Cuba when Carlos was a young boy. His grandmother—Ana Fernandez Quiles, known to Marcos as "Abuela Anita" until her death at age 100 this past January—and her family, originally of Spanish descent, also took flight to the Caribbean Island.

Carlos and Ana had two sons, one of whom was Marcos father (Carlos Francisco Asse). The family operated a general store in Jibacoa (hee-ba-coa), a two-hour car ride from Havana. When Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro came into power in 1959, the country was converted into a one-party, socialist state under Communist Party rule.

In 1961, the Castro's government seized control of Marcos' grandparents' store. The family decided to flee to the United States, but just three days before their plane was to depart they were robbed of most of the money they had saved. Now, only enough remained for two family members to escape: Marcos' then 18-year-old father and his then 16-year-old uncle. The teenagers stayed for a short time with a cousin in Miami, but soon found jobs as busboys at a famous Jewish delicatessen called Wolfie's.

Within a few months, Marcos' dad, who spoke very little English, enrolled in what amounted to adult high school classes at Miami Dade Community College. Described by Marcos as a "straight A student", Carlos eventually transferred to the University of Florida in Gainesville to pursue a degree in architecture. And while Carlos was a brilliant scholar, his first love was theater.

Says Marcos, "Dad credits his passion for movies, theater, and plays to first seeing the animated Disney film 'Snow White' as a kid back in Cuba."

Just shy of beginning work on his architecture thesis at UF, Carlos got a job in downtown Gainesville as a set designer at the Hippodrome State Theater. Referred to by city residents as "the Hipp", the theater served not only as an entertainment center, but also provided classes, camps, in-school programs and workshops for all ages.

It was there where Carlos' eye was caught by an attractive brunette named Marilyn Wall, one of the Hippodrome's six founding members. Her specialties were make-up and costume design. Born in Iowa, Marilyn's father was a career military pilot, so the "Navy brat" lived all over the world, including a year-and-a-half in Guantanamo, Cuba at the same time her future husband was in Jibacoa.

"To say that Mom and the others were a band of misfit hippies is an understatement," Marcos said. "The Hipp was a crazy, wild, progressive theater that probably Gainesville wasn't ready for at that time."

Another understatement would be to describe his parents' success at their professions. Among their many awards, they've collectively won three Emmy awards, two by Carlos for his set design on a puppets show called "Salsa" and one by Marilyn for costume design.

As pre-teens, the Hippodrome became a second home for Marcos, his older brother Juan-Carlos—known as "Carly"—and his younger brother, Miguel.

"We grew up in theater," Marcos said. "That was our daycare. My brothers and I were in more plays than you can imagine. We'd always be in plays and shows, but our parents never pushed us. It was kind of like 'Do you want to hang here and do nothing or do you want to be in the play?'  I ran follow-spotlight, I did backstage, basically whatever was needed at the time."

Then, the Asse boys discovered sports. Marcos was 11 when he started playing tennis. Almost literally, he never quit playing.

"Unless it rained, I played every day," Marcos said. "I just loved it. My parents would drop us both off at the courts and we would just play all day long. I remember that I just wanted to beat my older brother … that's all! He beat me the first four years of our tennis life."

Carly wound up with a scholarship at UNC-Ashville, then transferred to Florida. Marcos' younger brother, Miguel, also served as a manager for the Gators squad.

"We weren't those kids who were being driven all over to play," Marcos said. "I played doubles with the right kids so that I could go to the tournaments with them. Growing up in Florida was huge; there were tournaments all over the state in the '90s. I would not have survived in today's tennis world. Tennis has become a rich man's game. Tennis just kind of caught us at the right time."

Marcos took a long route towards earning his way onto the University of Florida tennis team.

"When I was 16, I would go to all of the Gators matches and I thought they were in a different stratosphere from where I was at," he said. "I knew all the guys. I'd hang out on the court and in the locker room; nothing that would be legal now. But because I was just a fun, happy kid, they didn't mind us hanging around."

Marcos wrote a letter to one of the coaches and found out about walk-on tryouts.

"I had an academic scholarship at Florida, but my parents had no money to give me," he said. "Financially, it was either Florida or bust for me. The coach let me work out with the team during the summer, then gave me a two-week tryout period."

At the end of the two weeks, Marcos received good news.

"Coach told me that I made it and I remember going to tell my mom," he said. "ESPN Gameday was in town for the Gators football game, so I rode my bike to where my mom was on the set doing makeup for (Chris) Fowler, (Kirk) Herbstreit and (Lee) Corso. So I go into the trailer where Lee Corso was in there with my mom. I was like, 'Mom, I made it!' It still kind of makes me a little emotional. So Lee Corso is there and he's exactly like who you see on TV. So it's me, my mom and Lee Corso all jumping up and down and hugging each other."

Marcos eventually became a key contributor and was a member of Florida's 2000 SEC championship team, posting 21 wins in doubles.

After studying accounting and graduating from Florida with a degree in finance—"I can balance the hell out of a checkbook," he says—Asse joined William & Mary's coaching staff and helped the Tribe win a conference title and earn two NCAA Tournament appearances.

He joined Brad Dancer's Fighting Illini staff for the 2009 season and has experienced nothing but success in Champaign-Urbana. Illinois has earned 11 consecutive NCAA berths, including six Sweet Sixteen appearances and one trip to the national quarterfinals.

And what's Asse's favorite moment with the Illini?

"That's easy … our Big Ten title in 2015," he said. "That was awesome for so many reasons. That was one of the best college matches I've ever been a part of, either as a player or a coach. On paper, against Ohio State in the finals for the Big Ten title, we were completely looked to be toast. Everyone thought we had no chance, but we ended up winning."

Asse is super enthused about the 2020-21 Illini as well.

"Kova (Aleks Kovacevic) is one of the best players in college tennis," he said. "Zeke Clark has the heart of a lion; you can fuel an army off his energy. Our senior leadership with Vuk Budic and Noe Khlif, they're two of the most role model guys that you'd want your daughter to bring home. Alex Brown is one of the most talented players in the country, too. And then we've got some new guys who are really going to be fun players to watch."

Asse says it's "fantastic" to be of Hispanic heritage and working in intercollegiate athletics.

"I'm in a sport that's highly international, so there is no majority in tennis," he said. "You go to a tennis tournament and it's the world that you're looking at. I've never felt discriminated against. For me, it's always been a celebration."

Asse is married to fellow Florida graduate Nikki. The couple has two daughters, Stella and Ana.

Catching up on Marcos' family. His father is now 77 years old and just took a new job as artistic director of the Bay Street Players in Eustis, Fla. His mother will soon turn 70 and lives fulltime with brother Carly in Gainesville, Fla., while she battles Parkinson's. Carly runs a personal training studio and is a documentarian, including films "Unsupersize Me" and "Unsupersize Me in Cuba: Shaping a Dream". Miguel is a data analyst for Google in Greater New York City.