It wasn’t as rehearsed as a Broadway play, but Joe D’Ambrosio had seen, and participated in enough of Kemba Walker’s dramatics to be well prepared for the final act in that Thursday matinee at Madison Square Garden, March 10, 2011 . “You knew it was going to be Kemba’s shot,” said D’Ambrosio, radio voice of UConn basketball from 1992-2018. “He’d had so many game-winners that year, I was expecting something out of the ordinary.
When he got the ball back, I just wanted to communicate to the listener everything that happened. And when he broke Gary McGhee’s ankles, I’m thinking to myself in the moment, ‘this is going to be terrific, make sure your call matches the moment.'” So in Joe D.
’s words on the radio, which sync up flawlessly with the video , it was ...
“ Walker to the right, ...
top of the key, McGhee has him on a switch with six ...
here’s Walker with four, stops. Moves moves left, steps back, the jumper. “It’s gooooood.
At the buzzerrrrrr, and Kemba Walker has done it again .” On ESPN, play-by-play announcer Dave Pasch exclaimed “Cardiac Kemba has done it again!” and that line has stuck in memory. D’Ambrosio’s call was pitch-perfect, in volume, cadence and detail.
Either way, the moment was captured in sound and real time as one that belongs on canvas in a museum of Connecticut sports history. Walker, 34, announced his retirement as a basketball player on Tuesday, ending a career that brought him affection and stardom world.
