When Luke Westfall first arrived in Pullman as a transfer from Whatcom Community College, he wanted to be a sports broadcaster. Two and a half years later, that’s no longer his dream, he is proud of his experiences as the sports director of KUGR radio and the sports editor of The Daily Evergreen.

“Most of my daily, weekly, monthly and yearly activities are in some facet based around sports,” said Westfall.

He has loved sports since he was young and dreamed of calling games on national television. When he came to Wazzu, he did not take long to get involved. He started calling games for KUGR radio and became the swimming beat reporter for The Evergreen.

Westfall, who hails from Custer, Washington, came to WSU because he wanted to go somewhere with a strong communications program but not too far from home. For him, WSU was the perfect place. After two and a half years, he will graduate with a degree in Multimedia Journalism.

In fall of 2023, he signed on to be the sports editor for the Evergreen. 

“At first, I just wanted to do it because I thought it would give me the best chance to be able to cover the football team,” admits Westfall. “And it certainly did.”

Luke had the opportunity to cover the football team as the Evergreen beat reporter in 2023 and 2024. Among his favorite games to cover was the 2023 senior night win over Colorado, because of the storylines surrounding Deion Sanders and his star-studded team.

His favorite thing about writing for The Evergreen is seeing the paper on Thursdays, “and saying, ‘Hey I did that.'”

However, his true passion has always been broadcasting.

“I enjoy expressing my emotion for sports more through my voice than through writing,” he said.

Soon after coming to WSU, Luke made a connection with Emmett Bryz-Gornia (BG) that changed his trajectory as a broadcaster forever.

“He came up to me and he just said he was gonna run to be the sports director,” said Westfall. “And he wanted me to be his assistant.”

Westfall and Bryz-Gornia worked together at KUGR, and Westfall eventually took over for him as the sports director.

“The majority of what’s happened with what I’ve done at school wouldn’t have happened without BG,” said Westfall.

Among their best calls together was the 2024 Apple Cup at Lumen Field, when the pair got to witness a shocking WSU upset over the Huskies. Their stream to YouTube Live received over two thousand views and was the most-watched KUGR YouTube stream at the time.

Luke credits Brandon Chapman, Murrow College’s resident sports broadcast expert, for helping him grow as a broadcaster.

“Chappy taught me the most about broadcast,” he said.

Westfall also had the opportunity to travel to call road games against San Diego State, UCLA and Washington at Husky Stadium.

“The UW Apple Cup call in Seattle, not just this year when we won it in Seattle but also last year when we narrowly lost it,” he reminisced. “The anticipation was super fun.”

While football is his favorite sport to broadcast, he has also called both men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball, baseball and soccer games. He had the opportunity to travel to Las Vegas and call games at the Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournament in 2024 and had a thrilling call of a WSU buzzer-beater win over the Huskies in Seattle.

As a reporter, Luke has had the opportunity to interview many athletes, but his favorite interview was with wide receivers Josh Kelly and Kyle Williams.

“They just feed off each other,” he said. “You could tell they had a great relationship, it was such a good dynamic.”

He credits his brother for inspiring his love of sports and credits God for being the greatest influence in his life.

“That’s who my life is dedicated to, that’s who I strive to be like,” he said.

He also credited his parents for “keeping him alive,” and raising him the way he was.

As he prepares to leave WSU, he will hand the reigns at KUGR to sophomore broadcasting student Davis Hagen.

“My best calls have definitely come with (Davis),” said Westfall. He is excited for the leadership Hagen will bring to the KUGR sports department.

“I also wanna shout out Josiah Frank, he’s my best friend, we do everything together,” he said.

He met Josiah indirectly through a friend who was in KUGR in late 2023. Since then, they have been inseparable.

“Luke has given me his time, helpful criticism within broadcasting, and most importantly friendship,” said Frank. “Luke has blossomed as a student, brother, friend, boyfriend and follower of Christ. I am so happy that I’ve been able to be apart of a ride that has many more stops to come.”

Though Luke has always wanted to be a broadcaster, he knows the lifestyle is demanding, competitive and often can be isolating with all the travel.

“(KUGR) taught me that I love to broadcast and that I think I have somewhat of a knack for it,” said Westfall. It also taught him “how hard the industry is, and how hard it is to find a job.”

Luke is not sure if he will continue to pursue broadcasting past college. In the short term, he plans to move to Billings, Montana, where his girlfriend attends Montana State.

“Wherever she is is where my life is going to be from now on, just hopefully not in Billings forever,” he said.

When he gets there he will look to find a job and try to establish a normal sleep schedule.

Regardless, Luke Westfall is proud of his achievements at WSU, having made some terrific memories reporting on sports.

“I am proud to say the boy alone in his room calling a video game got to live out his dream, and that is a blessing.”