Papa graduated from
Syracuse University's
S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in 1984. While at Syracuse, he was the sports director and a play-by-play announcer for
Syracuse Orange sports at
WAER-FM. 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 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 from 1991 to 2003. The Raiders hired Papa for the 1997 season, replacing
Joel Meyers, who had himself replaced King. His work was very much in the tradition of his predecessor,
Bill King. Like King, his touchdown calls were punctuated by "TOUCHDOWN, RRRRAID-ERS!!!" Papa's best calls arguably were:
Tyrone Wheatley's 26-yard run in the Raiders
1999 finale against the
Kansas City Chiefs at
Arrowhead Stadium ("Wheatley won't go down!!!") along with describing the events during the
Tuck Rule game, when the Raiders seemingly had won a
2001 playoff game during a snow storm at
New England after forcing a late fumble, only to see referee
Walt Coleman 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's decision to interview
Mike Shanahan for the head coach position in 2015, as Shanahan, who previously coached the team from 1988 to 1989, had a "huge falling out" with Davis' father and previous owner
Al Davis. Had Shanahan 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
Ray Fosse from 1991 to 2003.
San Francisco Giants From 2004 to 2008, Papa called play-by-play for San Francisco Giants broadcasts on
KTVU television and
KNBR 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. He occasionally announced several of the Giants' games on TV and radio when
Jon Miller was on assignment at
ESPN. Papa returned to baseball full-time for the 2021 season, hosting pregame and postgame coverage for the Giants, though this only lasted one season. Papa still remains as a substitute host for Giants Pre and Postgame Live.
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,
Ian Williams, and
Jeff Garcia. 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, notably for broadcasts of the
California Golden Bears football and basketball teams. He has also done
San Jose Stealth and
San Francisco Dragons 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 and media personality
Ray Ratto.
The Happy Hour was cancelled by
NBC Sports Bay Area in 2018 with the last airing on December 21, 2018. ==Personal life==