Gregory Charles Papa (born October 10, 1962) is an American sportscaster, currently employed as the radio

play-by-play In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

announcer for the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

. He has also broadcast for the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first esta ...

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Division ( ...

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

and

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

during his career. He is best known as the radio play-by-play caller for the Raiders and the host of ''

Chronicle Live The ''Evening Chronicle'', now referred to as ''The Comical'', is a daily newspaper produced in Newcastle upon Tyne covering North regional news, but primarily focused on Newcastle upon Tyne and surrounding area. The ''Comical'' is published by ...

'' on NBC Sports Bay Area. He,

Garry St. Jean Garry St. Jean (born February 10, 1950) is an American former professional basketball coach and executive. St. Jean was head coach of the Sacramento Kings from 1992 through 1997. He later became the general manager of the Golden State Warriors, a ...

, and

Kelenna Azubuike Kelenna David Azubuike (born 16 December 1983) is a British-Nigerian-American former professional basketball player and currently the Golden State Warriors television analyst on NBC Sports Bay Area. Born in London, England and raised in Tulsa, ...

do the in-studio analysis for all the Golden State Warriors regular season games on NBC Sports Bay Area. He is the younger brother of deceased Philadelphia sportscaster

Gary Papa Gary Papa (September 2, 1954 – June 19, 2009) was a sportscaster with WPVI-TV in Philadelphia from April 1981 to June 2009 and was the 5:30 p.m., 6 p.m., and 11:00 p.m. sportcaster. He joined the station as a weekend sportscaster in ...

. Papa is a three-time California Sportscaster of the Year Award winner. He also currently cohosts a radio program with John Lund weekdays from 10am-2pm.

Career highlights

Papa graduated from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, commonly known as Newhouse School, is the communications and journalism school of Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY. It has programs in print and broadcast journalism; music business; graphic ...

in 1984. While at Syracuse, he was the sports director and a play-by-play announcer for

Syracuse Orange The Syracuse Orange are the athletic teams that represent Syracuse University. The school is a member of NCAA Division I and the Atlantic Coast Conference. Until 2013, Syracuse was a member of the Big East Conference. The school's mascot is ...

sports at

WAER-FM WAER (88.3 FM) is a radio station in Syracuse, New York. It is located on the campus of Syracuse University, and is a part of the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. The station features a jazz music and National Public Radio forma ...

. He was in the same 1984 Newhouse class as

Sean McDonough Sean McDonough (born May 13, 1962) is an American sportscaster, currently employed by ESPN and WEEI Red Sox Radio Network. Early life The son of ''Boston Globe'' sportswriter Will McDonough, McDonough graduated from the S. I. Newhouse Sch ...

and Tony Caridi. Papa was a member of the Indiana Pacers' television and radio broadcasting team from 1984 to 1986. Then, he moved west and from 1986 to 1997, he was the radio announcer for the Golden State Warriors (including the famous "Sleepy Floyd Game," where Warrior

Sleepy Floyd Eric Augustus "Sleepy" Floyd (born March 6, 1960) is an American former professional basketball player. An NBA All-Star in 1987 as a Warrior, he is perhaps best known for his tenures for Golden State and Houston. Early life, family and education ...

scored 51 points against the Lakers in a playoff game). From 1997 to 2000, Papa became the lead announcer on the San Antonio Spurs' telecasts. During this span, he was also the television play-by-play announcer for the Oakland Athletics with

Ray Fosse Raymond Earl Fosse (April 4, 1947 – October 13, 2021) was an American professional baseball player and television sports color commentator. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a catcher from 1967 to 1979, most prominently as an All-Sta ...

from 1991 to 2003.

Oakland Raiders

Until his dismissal prior to the 2018 season, Papa was play-by-play announcer for the Raiders, alongside his color commentator, former Raider coach

Tom Flores Thomas Raymond Flores (born March 21, 1937) is a former American football coach and quarterback. After his retirement as a coach, he was a radio announcer for more than twenty years. Flores won a total of four Super Bowls in his playing and c ...

. The Raiders hired Papa for the 1997 season, replacing

Joel Meyers Joel Meyers is an American sportscaster who is the play-by-play announcer of the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also is the lead host of "Above the Rim", which airs weekdays from 10am-1pm ET on SiriusXM N ...

, who had himself replaced King. His work was very much in the tradition of his predecessor,

Bill King Wilbur "Bill" King (October 6, 1927 – October 18, 2005) was an American sports announcer. In 2016, the National Baseball Hall of Fame named King recipient of the 2017 Ford C. Frick Award, the highest honor for American baseball broadcasters. ...

. Like King, his touchdown calls were punctuated by "TOUCHDOWN, RRRRAID-ERS!!!" Papa's best calls arguably were:

Tyrone Wheatley Tyrone Anthony Wheatley Sr. (born January 19, 1972) is an American football coach and former player who is the head coach at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Previously, he served as the running backs coach of the Denver Broncos of ...

's 26-yard run in the Raiders

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

finale against the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

Arrowhead Stadium Arrowhead Stadium is an American football stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. It primarily serves as the home venue of the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). The stadium has been officially named GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stad ...

("Wheatley won't go down!!!") along with describing the events during the Tuck Rule game, when the Raiders seemingly had won a

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

playoff game during a snow storm at

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

after forcing a late fumble, only to see referee

Walt Coleman Walt Coleman III (born January 16, 1952) is a former American football official who officiated in the National Football League (NFL) from the 1989 season until the end of the 2018 season. He wore uniform number 65. During his final season in ...

reverse the call after consulting instant replay. The Patriots went on to win the historic, controversial contest in overtime. Papa later speculated that he was let go by the Raiders for criticizing owner

Mark Davis Mark Davis may refer to: Entertainers *Mark Davis (talk show host), American radio talk show host * Mark Jonathan Davis (born 1965), American actor/singer and creator of Richard Cheese *Mark Davis, American bassist and founding member for the band ...

's decision to interview

Mike Shanahan Michael Edward Shanahan (born August 24, 1952) is a former American football coach, best known as the head coach of the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL) from 1995 to 2008. During his fourteen seasons with the Broncos, he led ...

for the head coach position in 2015, as Shanahan, who previously coached the team from 1988-89, had a "huge falling out" with Davis' father and previous owner

Al Davis Allen Davis (July 4, 1929 – October 8, 2011) was an American football coach and executive. He was the principal owner and general manager of the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League (NFL) for 39 years, from 1972 until his death in ...

. Had Shannahan been hired, Papa had threatened to resign out of respect for Al Davis, and that allegedly led to a rift with Mark Davis.

Oakland Athletics

Greg Papa was also the television play-by-play announcer for the Oakland A's with

from 1991 to 2003.

San Francisco Giants

From 2004 to 2008, Papa called play-by-play for San Francisco Giants broadcasts on

KTVU KTVU (channel 2) is a television station licensed to Oakland, California, United States, serving as the San Francisco Bay Area's Fox network outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside San Jose� ...

television and

KNBR KNBR may refer to: * KNBR (AM), a radio station (680 AM) licensed to serve San Francisco, California, United States * KNBR-FM KNBR-FM (104.5 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to San Francisco, California, serving the greater San ...

radio. In 2008, Papa hosted 35 of the 50 scheduled editions of "Giants Pregame Live" and all 65 of the "Giants Postgame Live" shows on

Comcast SportsNet Bay Area NBC Sports Bay Area (sometimes abbreviated as NBCS Bay Area) is an American regional sports network owned as a joint venture between NBCUniversal and the San Francisco Giants, and operates as an affiliate of NBC Sports Regional Networks. Headquart ...

. He occasionally announced several of the Giants' games on TV and radio when

Jon Miller Jon Miller (born October 11, 1951) is an American sportscaster, known primarily for his broadcasts of Major League Baseball. Since 1997 he has been employed as a play-by-play announcer for the San Francisco Giants. He was also a baseball annou ...

was on assignment at

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. When

Dave Flemming David Braxton Flemming (born May 31, 1976) is an American sportscaster who has been a play-by-play announcer for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball since 2003. Flemming also calls college football, college basketball, major leag ...

's microphone went dead when the ball was in the air for what turned out to be

Barry Bonds Barry Lamar Bonds (born July 24, 1964) is an American former professional baseball left fielder who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Bonds was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1986 to 1992 and the San Francisco Giants f ...

' 715th career home run on May 28, , Papa took over the broadcast, apologized to listeners, and explained what happened on the field. Papa returned to baseball full-time for the 2021 season, hosting pregame and postgame coverage for the Giants.

Golden State Warriors

From the 2011-12 season until 2019-20, with a numerous rotation of analysts, Greg Papa has hosted both "Warriors Pregame Live" and "Warriors Postgame Live" on NBC Sports Bay Area. The duo also provide in studio analysis at half-time for the station's coverage of Warriors regular season (and 1st round playoff) games.

San Francisco 49ers

In 2018, Papa hosted 49ers pre- and postgame live on NBC Sports Bay Area, alongside

Donte Whitner Donte Demetrius Whitner Sr. (born July 24, 1985) is a former professional American football strong safety. He played college football at Ohio State, and was drafted by the Buffalo Bills eighth overall in the 2006 NFL Draft. Whitner has also ...

, Ian Williams, and

Jeff Garcia Jeffrey Jason Garcia (born February 24, 1970) is a former American football quarterback. After attending high school and junior college in Gilroy, California, Garcia played college football at San Jose State University. A four-time CFL All-Sta ...

. Beginning with the 2019 season, Papa took over as the radio voice of the 49ers, handling the play-by-play duties for the team on KNBR 680 with analyst Tim Ryan. His touchdown calls are variations of Bill King. He punctuates a score with, “TOUCHDOWN, SAN-FRAN-CISCO!”

Other

Papa also does work for

NBC Sports California NBC Sports California (sometimes abbreviated as NBCS California) is an American regional sports network owned by the NBC Sports Group unit of NBCUniversal, and operates as an affiliate of NBC Sports Regional Networks. The channel broadcasts regio ...

, notably for broadcasts of the

California Golden Bears The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as ''California'' or ''Cal'', the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club te ...

football and basketball teams. He has also done

San Jose Stealth The San Jose Stealth were a member of the National Lacrosse League, the professional box lacrosse league of North America from 2004 until 2009. They played at the HP Pavilion at San Jose, which is also the home of the NHL's San Jose Sharks and t ...

and

San Francisco Dragons The San Francisco Dragons were a professional field lacrosse team based in San Francisco and San Jose, California. From 2006–2008, they played in Major League Lacrosse and they ceased operations before the 2009 season due to the economic situati ...

lacrosse games. Papa is also formerly host of Chronicle Live, a nightly Bay Area sports talk show covering all Bay Area sports. He was also the play-by-play announcer for '' HardBall 6: 2000 Edition'' and some of his Oakland A's broadcast audio was in the 2011 film '' Moneyball''. In 2017, Papa began co-hosting ''The Happy Hour'', a conversational discussion sports program on NBC Sports Bay Area, with sports anchor

Kelli Johnson Kelli Johnson is an American journalist and former sports anchor on NBC Sports Bay Area in San Francisco, California. She provided coverage on the Golden State Warriors and San Francisco Giants as well as other teams. She co-hosted the shows ''S ...

and media personality

Ray Ratto Ray Ratto has been a San Francisco Bay Area sportswriter since the 1970s and a sports columnist since the 1980s. A lifelong resident of Alameda, California, Ratto was a Senior Insider for the TV station '' NBC Sports Bay Area'' (''formerly Comcas ...

. ''The Happy Hour'' was cancelled by NBC Sports Bay Area in 2018 with the last airing on December 21, 2018.

Personal

Papa resides in

Danville, California The Town of Danville is located in the San Ramon Valley in Contra Costa County, California. It is one of the incorporated municipalities in California that use "town" in their names instead of "city". The population was 43,582 at the 2020 census ...

with his wife, the former Angela Garay. They have four children: Alexandra, Danielle, Erika and Nicolas. Papa has a son, Derek, from his first marriage. His brother, the late

, was a long time sportscaster for

WPVI WPVI-TV (channel 6), branded on-air as 6 ABC, is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station ...

in Philadelphia. His other family members are associated with National Fire Adjustment Co., Inc; his grandfather Bernard founded the company in 1922 and father Frank (1926-2019) served as its longtime chairman.

References

External links

Greg Papa profile
at

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its d ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Papa, Greg 1962 births Living people American radio sports announcers American television sports announcers California Golden Bears football announcers College basketball announcers in the United States Golden State Warriors announcers Indiana Pacers announcers Lacrosse announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters National Basketball Association broadcasters National Football League announcers Oakland Athletics announcers Oakland Raiders announcers People from Danville, California Radio personalities from San Francisco San Antonio Spurs announcers San Francisco 49ers announcers San Francisco Giants announcers S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications alumni Television personalities from San Francisco