Greg Papa Faces Heart Transplant
• Bay Area sports broadcasting veteran Greg Papa is once again battling a potentially life-threatening health issue — a possible heart transplant.
It’s safe to say that 2026 has been an especially challenging year, both personally and professionally, for Papa, 63, the play-by-play voice of the San Francisco 49ers, who spent seven years in middays at Cumulus Sports-Talk KNBR (The Sports Leader)/San Francisco. Just over a year ago Papa was diagnosed with leukemia, underwent a bone marrow transplant in March, and returned home in July after a life-threatening 78-day hospital stay that included lung failure.
A month later, Papa and his midday co-host Greg Silver were laid off during a major round of restructuring and were replaced by the returning John Lund, who was laid off during a similar downsizing in November 2024. Just 36 days later, Papa was rehired in a part-time capacity to host a new midday feature, Lunch With Papa, and twice-weekly Niners Updates With Greg Papa during KNBR’s morning and afternoon drive shows.
Now comes word that Papa’s underlying genetic cardiomyopathy has greatly worsened due to the transplant, leading to his hospitalization at UCSF on Sept. 7, where he was diagnosed with advanced heart failure. We understand his case was presented to the UCSF Health Heart Transplant Board on Tuesday to determine if he is a candidate for a transplant. Stay tuned.
