The exchange of text messages on Greg Papa’s iPhone from Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis is more than a year old, long received, but liable still to bring tears to his eyes.
Papa reread it Wednesday morning, grateful their friendship is back intact amid his bout with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
“It’s been the most difficult challenge of my life personally, without question,” Papa said by phone from the Bay Area on Wednesday afternoon. “But at the very top of the good things to come out of it, my relationship with the Raiders and Mark Davis has been restored.”
Long the voice of the Oakland Raiders turned voice of the San Francisco 49ers — whom Las Vegas plays Thursday at Allegiant Stadium to cap its preseason — Papa hopes to return to the 49ers broadcast booth early this NFL season after missing all but one broadcast last season.
Papa’s reconnection with Davis and the Raiders has sparked his spirit at a trying time. He called their games for 21 years from 1997 to 2018, forging a bond with late owner Al Davis before falling out with Mark toward the end of his tenure.
But Mark heard of Papa’s diagnosis when it was made public Aug. 1, 2025, and promptly buried their beef via text — inviting him to light Allegiant Stadium’s Al Davis Memorial Torch whenever he’s ready.
“We’ve been able to beyond patch things up,” said Papa, his soothing baritone oozing warmth and optimism. “We’re back on solid ground with them, and I do very much look forward to the day when I can go back there and light that torch in his honor.”
Raised in Buffalo, New York, schooled at Syracuse and 63, Papa called games for the Golden State Warriors and Oakland Athletics before landing with the Raiders. The elder Davis and former executive Bruce Allen were among his fiercest advocates, helping Papa fulfill his careerlong dream of announcing the NFL.
His kinship with Davis — who died in 2011 — leaves a lasting imprint.
“It really is family,” Papa said. “It’s just different. And the old — there are 31 teams in the NFL, and then there are the Raiders … that is so true. And I hope that’s still the case. … They were family. They were Al. It was Al. Al did everything and everybody worked for Al, but there were so many people that I just have lifelong connections with.”
But none more precious to Papa than Davis, whose honor he felt like he had to defend in 2015 when the Raiders interviewed Mike Shanahan for their vacant head coaching position. Shanahan coached them in Los Angeles in 1988 in 1989 but clashed with Davis and was subsequently fired.
That the younger Davis showed interest in Shanahan stoked Papa’s loyalty to his father and led to their fallout.
“(Al) had told me so many things in private, and when things were done that were against his wishes, it was hard for me to just to be quiet,” Papa said. “A lot of that happened right in the middle of a radio show or 10 minutes before a radio show with no buffer, so that’s where it went sideways. But I never meant to hurt Mark or anybody with the organization.”
Papa said he and Davis didn’t talk and noted his last three years with the Raiders were somewhat “frosty” before his 2018 dismissal led to his hiring by San Francisco. He also said the elder Davis was sensitive to grief and death and that the younger Davis has “got a lot of qualities of his dad.”
No wonder he reached out “immediately” upon hearing what Papa was battling. The fight continues in the Bay for Papa, who received a bone marrow transplant in March and spent seven weeks hospitalized with life-threatening complications in his lungs.
He’s stronger with support from the Raiders and Davis, who declined comment Tuesday beyond, “Once a Raider, always a Raider.”
Added Papa, noting he has heard from other Raiders staffers past and present: “There’s just so many back-and-forths. Always initiated by him. … It just never ends. They just constantly reach out to me. It’s family. It started out as, ‘Wow. I get to broadcast the NFL.’ And then it was, ‘Wow. I’m a part’ and taken inside. And once you’re behind the shield as they say and you’re inside the sanctity of the Raiders and they trust you, there’s no place (you’d rather) be.
“You don’t want to make an enemy of the Raiders, but when you are inside that shield, there’s a family environment there that’s really unlike any other in American sport.”
Contact Sam Gordon at sgordon @reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on X.
