Just four months ago, the San Francisco 49ers and the team’s flagship radio station KNBR announced that Greg Papa, a veteran of Bay Area sports radio that has called games for various local franchises since 1986, would return alongside broadcast partner Tim Ryan to call the team’s games this upcoming season
The news was welcome. Last summer, Papa spent 23 days hospitalized at UCSF after being diagnosed with lymphoblastic leukemia but returned to his daily radio show in September, and then to the 49ers’ booth for the regular-season finale against Seattle in January. But now, another offseason of health scares might keep Papa away from the booth again
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In a two-hour conversation with San Francisco Chroniclewriter Eric Branch, Papa recounted numerous new health-related scares he encountered this summer resulting from a successful bone marrow transplant in February. Branch reports complications stemming from the transplant “nearly killed” Papa and “may have left his lungs permanently scarred” after both his right and left lungs collapsed, leaving him on a ventilator for nearly a week
The collapsed lungs were merely just one of many near-death experiences Papa has faced in recent months, but they’re likely the most relevant when it comes to his potential return to the 49ers radio booth
“After a 42-year career in which he has spent 53 seasons as the voice for Bay Area teams, [Papa] faces the possibility that he might never return to the booth,” Branch writes
Papa spent 78 days in the ICU and was discharged on July 11. He is now going through pulmonary rehabilitation to regain lung capacity, but may require supplemental oxygen for the rest of his life. At home, he has two oxygen systems: a portable unit for travel and a larger unit for getting around his home
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Beyond the physical challenges that may pose for a potential return to broadcasting, Papa’s ability to prepare for games might be an equally difficult barrier to overcome
“He wonders whether he can regain the necessary energy and focus,” Branch reports. “Whether he can travel. And, after chronicling countless games over 42 years, how much he needs to call another one.”
“I don’t have to prove anything — to anyone or to myself,” Papa told Branch. “This is not what motivates me. Part of the motivation is that I want to decide when I stop. I want to plot the course of my own life.”
But Papa did not entirely rule out a return to the booth, citing the long odds doctors gave him of survival as proof that anything is possible
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“My doctors told me that 95% of people would have died from what I went through,” Papa said. “They looked me in the eye and said, ‘We don’t know whether you will ever get out of here.’ My recovery was remarkable. So I will not say I cannot do it.”
After the initial success of his bone marrow transplant, Papa was eyeing a return to the 49ers booth for the team’s opener in Melbourne against the Los Angeles Rams. That now seems like a longshot
Last season, when Papa missed time, the 49ers put together a five-man rotation to fill in for the veteran broadcaster. Guy Haberman, Justin Allegri, Troy Clardy, Carlos Ramirez, and Jack Smith all chipped in to call games last year. It’s unclear what the team will choose to do this season if Papa misses extended time
The post Greg Papa’s return to 49ers booth in jeopardy after harrowing health battle: ‘I will not say I cannot do it’ appeared first on Awful Announcing
