Mario Impemba

Education

Michigan State University.

Career

Impemba is a 1981 graduate of Stevenson High School in Sterling Heights, Michigan and Michigan State University. In high school Mario showed the first flashes of his talent as a member to the school"s forensic team Former Positions

At Michigan State University, Impemba volunteered to announce whatever games were being broadcast on the university sports network.

As a professional, he started out announcing games for the Peoria Chiefs single-A baseball club in 1987.

Impemba also served as the sports director at WXCL Radio and the play-by-play voice of the Peoria Rivermen of the now-defunct International Hockey League during the 1987-1988 season. From 1989 to 1990, Mario served as the voice of the Quad City Angels single-A team in Davenport, Iowa.

In 1991, Impemba began calling games for the Tucson Toros of the Pacific Coast League. Impemba served as the radio (KLAA) and fill-in television (Fox Sports West and KCOP-television) play-by-play voice of the Anaheim Angels for seven seasons (1995–2001).

Current roles

Mario joined the Fox Sports Detroit broadcast team in 2002 as the Detroit Tigers play-by-play announcer.

Mario is teamed up with color commentators Rod Allen, Kirk Gibson, and Jack Morris on the telecasts. During the baseball offseason, Impemba is the official radio voice of the Oakland University Golden Grizzlies men"s basketball team on WDFN (1130 Department of Administration and Management) as well as games on Fox Sports Detroit. Impemba is also known for calling any catch in which the outfielder holds the glove with palm up a "basket catch".

Impemba, along with Rod Allen, called Armando Galarraga"s near-perfect game on June 2, 2010.

After Jim Joyce made a mistake and called what would have been the final "out" "safe" (the Tigers would get the next Indians batter out to end the game), Impemba stated that he "never felt this disappointed after a Tigers victory.".

Achievements

• He won numerous invitational tournaments before finishing 3rd in the state final tournament. Impemba always announces the game"s attendance when there is one "out" left in the game, and usually rounds down, for example "Bottom of the ninth, two "outs", the Tigers are about to win in front of a crowd of better than 41,000 fans - 41,212 to be exact".