Greg Papa had hoped to be back in the 49ers’ broadcast booth for the home opener Sunday. Instead, he’ll be following the game from a San Francisco hospital room, with his health now pointing toward a possible heart transplant or another procedure.
Papa, who turns 64 on Oct. 10, said a heart condition that flared up two weeks ago forced him back into the hospital at UCSF, where he is being monitored by three cardiologists around the clock. The latest setback comes after a long stretch of treatment that began in July 2025, when he was diagnosed with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Since then, Papa has endured a bone marrow transplant on March 4, collapsed lungs that kept him hospitalized for 78 days, and a previous diagnosis of cardiomyopathy in May 2023. He said the toll has been mounting.
“This one … I’ve battled hard for a long time. I was in the hospital for 11 weeks, most of it in ICU.
I battled hard,” Papa said Saturday in an exclusive phone interview with this news organization. “My body is starting to wear down, I tell you.
I’m battling as hard as I can.
“You feel you’re surrounded. It’s the lungs, it’s the liver, it’s the kidneys, and now the heart,” Papa added.
“I feel fatigued in trying to figure it out. I do PT every day trying to eat and trying to get strong for whatever procedure I do.
It’s frustrating.”
Papa said he had been preparing for a comeback just before the latest flare-up. Two weeks ago, he spent three to four hours at his desk “doing my 49ers board” as he worked toward returning to the booth. Until last season, he had been the team’s play-by-play radio voice since 2019.
His résumé in Bay Area sports broadcasting is deep: the Warriors from 1986-97, the Raiders from 1997-2018, the Athletics from 1990-2003, and the Giants from 2004-08. He also hosted afternoon radio shows on 95.7 The Game and KNBR 680-AM, and KNBR 680-AM announced last week that he was returning after his dismissal Aug. 5.
Papa briefly stepped back into the public eye on Sept. 5 when he attended Cal’s football game. But the next night, he woke up struggling to breathe.
“The next night, however, I awoke with labored breathing, saying “my heart was coming through my chest.””
He returned to UCSF on Sept. 7 after that episode. Papa said the issue is advanced heart failure, and he described the situation as a mental grind as he tries to work through it step by step.
“My heart had a mutation heading into this and it was tough to protect my heart,” Papa said. “My heart couldn’t take the medicine it needed to get better because it was in contrast with the chemo and all the other things I needed to take to stay alive.
“It’s a mental grind. I’m back in these walls again when I thought I was out,” Papa continued.
“I’m right back in it doing this step-by-step physical therapy, trying to crawl my way to the goal line again. You never quite feel like you won but you feel like you turned it around and there were better days ahead.
Then all of a sudden, boom, you’re crippled again. We’ll figure it out.”
Papa said his current options are laid out in three paths. Medication is helping somewhat, he said.
Another possibility is having an LVAD pump inserted next to his heart through open-chest surgery. The most difficult option, in his words, is a transplant.
“My game plan consists of three play calls: 1.) Medication, which is stabilizing somewhat; 2.)
Having an LVAD pump inserted next to his heart via open-chest surgery; 3.) “The real tough one is a heart transplant,” Papa said.
“I just had a bone-marrow transplant on March 4. … We’re going through it all.
This whole week has been about accruing data.”
Even while dealing with the latest setback, Papa kept close tabs on the 49ers. He watched their 27-7 season-opening win over the Los Angeles Rams in Australia last week while at an event in Novato with several 49ers alumni.
True to form, he had a sharp read on the game. Papa said he expected the 49ers to control the Rams and praised the team’s rushing attack, Mike Evans’ quick connection with Brock Purdy, Nick Bosa’s every-snap pressure, and the way Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw helped reshape the middle of the defense.
As for Sunday’s home opener, Papa said the youth-laden Dolphins will be a challenge under first-year coach Jeff Hafley. He added that the 49ers will have to lean on physicality.
“We need to wear them down. I’ll be watching.”
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