But where would you most likely have seen him?

Most people know him by his booming, made-for-broadcast baritone that belts out, “HE SCORES!!!” after each home-team goal at a Maverick hockey game, the voice that, for viewers, precedes the “Ole, ole, ole, ole,” song.

But for Westphal, play-by-play announcing is more than just a hobby. It’s a passion, and it’s one that has resulted in a lifetime’s worth of memories for him.

He’s mingled with Bob Lurtsema, Doug Woog, Wayne Gretzky and Tommy Kramer.

He’s broadcast University of Minnesota Golden Gopher hockey, football and basketball games, where the names were Ricky Foggy, Darrell Thompson and Willie Burton.

He called the famous national championship game when Harvard beat the Gophers in overtime.

He’s worked a Super Bowl, announced ringside at professional wrestling, rubbed elbows with Verne Gagne and Nick Bockwinkel.

Not bad for a farm kid from St. Clair.

“You just gotta pick up a mic and start talking,” Westphal says.

The family farm, which is still in operation, is just outside of St. Clair. Like his siblings, Westphal worked on that farm. But he realized one summer, when “the white combine” (hail) damaged much of their crop, that farm life probably wasn’t in his future.

“I thought, ‘I just don’t know if I’m cut out for this,’” he said.

So it was off to college for Westphal. And while he was enamored with the University of Minnesota after a tour, he was also a little terrified of the size. Bethany Lutheran College, in many ways the opposite of the U of M, was more his speed.

He graduated from Bethany in 1987 and then went to the U of M, where he graduated with a journalism degree in 1990.

It was while he was at the U of M that his broadcast career — which started back at St. Clair high school during football games — blossomed.

He worked games at the U, which gave him the broadcast presence required to handle any event. And he would go on to broadcast nearly any event, include parades and wrestling matches at saloons.

“Everybody thinks they can do it until the camera goes live and you actually have to fill that time,” he said. “It becomes a much different entity.”

Most people in the Mankato region, however, know Westphal as the voice of the Mavericks on the Charter Communications cable network.

He and color commentator Steve Carroll have teamed up for play-by-play for five years. Next year, by the way, they’ll be visible in high definition.

But of course, the broadcasting is still a hobby, a sideline he says Bethany has been very understanding about. It’s that Bethany job, after all, that pays the bills.

He decided against a career in broadcasting one year when he needed to cover a Christmas Day Vikings game in the Twin Cities.

“That was eye opening,” he said. “It was a big game, but I had to leave my family on Christmas for it.”

Westphal’s professional life now centers on college students. He’s been Bethany’s dean of admissions since 2000, and he says the process of recruiting and attracting students has changed dramatically in the last 10 years.

Most of the changes have come from technology.

Today, 25 percent of the college’s applicants are unknown to the college until they apply online.

“They’re called secret shoppers,” Westphal says.

Advancements such as Twitter, Facebook and text messaging have become the norm when communicating with prospective students.

Educating people about cost has been another challenge. In a tough economic environment, Westphal says it can be difficult to convince people that paying more up front can actually save money in the end.

Almost all of Bethany’s graduates complete a bachelor’s degree in four years, and with scholarships and financial aid, he says Bethany’s tuition is competitive with some public schools.

Plus, staying in Mankato provides an advantage in itself, he says.

“I love living in Mankato,” he said. “The safety, the infrastructure, ability to go downtown to an arena and watch some of the best hockey in the country. My commute is a stop light on Vets Memorial Bridge. ... I can’t think of a better place to live.”