Greg Papa won’t be back in the 49ers radio booth Sunday night after all.
The longtime Bay Area broadcaster announced Sunday afternoon that he decided to pull out of what was supposed to be his return to calling 49ers games after missing the entire season while battling leukemia.
“I have decided it is not wise for me to do the game,” Papa told Matt Maiocco.
The news came as a surprise, given that just 11 days earlier, the 49ers and KNBR had announced Papa would return for the team’s final two home games of the regular season. His comeback was set to begin Sunday night against Chicago on Sunday Night Football, with a second game scheduled for Jan. 4 against Seattle.
Papa was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in July and spent 23 days hospitalized at UCSF. He stepped away from both the 49ers booth and his KNBR midday show for treatment, returning to radio hosting duties remotely by mid-September while continuing chemotherapy.
Last week’s announcement that he’d return to the booth felt like a major step forward. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Papa had been cleared by his doctors and was feeling close to 100 percent physically for the first time since his diagnosis. He was in remission and preparing for a bone marrow stem cell transplant from his brother, Ron.
When KNBR announced his return on Dec. 17, Papa said he felt strong enough to handle the preparation required for calling games while also hosting his daily four-hour radio show. He acknowledged the fight wasn’t over, but felt ready to get back in the booth.
Papa’s withdrawal on Sunday comes after months of treatment and recovery. The 49ers will rely on their rotation of fill-in announcers for at least one more week, with Guy Haberman expected to handle play-by-play duties alongside analyst Tim Ryan for Sunday night’s game against Chicago.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.