Greg Papa was the beloved play-by-play voice of the Raiders for 21 years before his tenure with the team came to an abrupt end in 2018.
His “Touchdooowwwwn Raaiiiiiders” call was one of the most recognizable in all of sports.
Papa is now the play-by-play voice of the 49ers and his relationship with the Raiders is one that no longer exists. That sentiment was clear in a message Papa gave to a group of 49er fans following their Super Bowl loss to the Chiefs at Allegiant Stadium.
“I’ve been with the Niners for five seasons, and we’ve been to four NFL Championship games and won two of them,” Papa said in February.
“I do want to thank you all for welcoming me to the Red and Gold,” Papa said. “I worked for that other team, [and] it would have been so nice to win a Super Bowl in their stadium, I got to say. That thought crossed my mind once or twice, but I was there a long time.”
It was a complex relationship that Papa had with Raiders owner Mark Davis in his final years with the team, and one of their differences involved the owner’s decision to allow Mike Shanahan to interview with the organization.
“I was extremely outspoken about how it could not happen, in my opinion,” Papa told The Mercury News in 2018. “I threatened to quit as the voice of the team and I would have no association with (Shanahan). The reason I was doing it was my love and respect for Al Davis. I felt it to be beyond my comprehension – it still is – that Mike Shanahan could interview to be the head coach of the Oakland Raiders. Knowing how much Al Davis loathed him, it just couldn’t happen.”
“We never were able to mend fences, Mark Davis and I,” Papa said on his Bay Area radio show after his departure from the Raiders. “Whenever we were around each other, standing right next to each other many, many times, I reached out to him to say hi (and) he ignored me. I thought over time it would dissipate. I thought over time, especially with Jon Gruden coming back, it would really go away.”
Davis has never spoken on record about Papa, but the team did issue a statement shortly after his departure…
“The Raiders organization would like to thank Greg Papa for his two decades of service to the Silver and Black.. He wasn’t just given the job.. He earned it.. With intense preparation Greg was always ready for the call.. Just as my generation remembers Bill King and “Holy Toledo”.. The Raider Nation will remember Greg Papa and “Touchdown Raiders”.. We wish Greg and his family the best in whatever the future brings..”
x: @raidersbeat
I never liked Papa as raiders announcer because nobody could ever replace the great Bill king, period..
Papa would miss to many obvious calls during the game and then ask Tom Flores and Tom always cleared up the call..
Greg Papa was garbage in my opinion and kisses Al Davis’s *** too many times..
I hated Al and wished he died 35 yrs ago.
He destroyed the Raiders with stupid trades and drafts..
Ron wolf was better then Al in evaluating talent by far and the won when Ron was there .Fact.
Al Davis ’03-’11:
helped the NFL in fact, asked by them to stop a players strike
stood up for the game and the NFL players against the other team owners’ new CBA
had seven future HOF’ers on those losing teams(’03-’11): Seymore, C-Wood, R. Woodson, Sapp, Moss, T. Brown and J. Rice).
was loyal to Raidernation despite their attitude over the loses(’03-’11)
Al was doing a lot even when he was in a 9 year losing streak. The team was talented and should’ve won much more. But he was in charge- but still, even if he needed help or step down fans shouldn’t throw throw him under the bus. He has to take some responsibility for the issues but its’ hard to understand how a team that elite and a genius like Al could lose for nine years.
Ron Wolfe and the Raiders:
Ron Wolfe did some awesome things for and with the Raiders but Al was the best GM in Raiders’ history and possibly, sports history. There are rumors the NFL and some of the other owners colluded to ruin the Raiders by tampering, we know the NFL has done things to Al in the past. But even if he just lost his touch why do fans show their silliness and start putting down on his memory? he built the best Raiders teams and created a lot of the things these greedy owners now use to screw over their fan bases(like he helped start Franchise Free Agency’). Wolfe drafted some good players and did a great job in Green Bay but the two are very different after that Wolfe may be a very good talent scout but Al not only did that but his political moves make him elite and moves him past even some of the best execs in sports history.
This is what Ron Wolfe said about Al:
Ron Wolfe:
“He brought me out there on a trial basis, trained me, started me at the bottom and we moved all the way through,” Wolf said, via Eddie Paskal of the Raiders’ official site. “It was a tremendous education for someone of my ilk, to have a man with this ability to evaluate the way Al would early on. I could not have been in a better situation than that at the outset.”
We don’t know why the Raiders suddenly couldn’t win anymore, they had far better personnel and assistant than most other teams.
Al was good only when Ron wolf was with Raiders..That’s a fact..Al Davis ruined this once proud franchise.
He loved the strong arm QB, only one QB was good with a strong arm,Daryl lamonica.
Ken,Jim,Rich were the only QB leaders that won big …Al traded Jim lachey who he stole from SD when Steve ortmeyer was SD GM,and Al traded Jim lachey All pro to Washington for Jay “POS” Schroeder..
A huge mistake..
Al was garbage,a POS..Glad that man dead!!!!!..His son is a total idiot,even worse
Reminds of the other idiot owner of the LA Lakers.
R
Fact:
Al Davis was a genius, knew the game, brought players to the Raiders that no other team would touch.
He had a great run, his #1 strength was, he didn’t take an S—, he stood his ground, he fought the NFL
tooth and nail, and eventually won. He hired great coaches, Flores, Shell, Madden, all did great.
Most ex-Raider players would die for him, supported him.
This note is coming from a lifetime 49er fan of over 60 yrs. I liked a lot of the great Raider players, always
rooted for them except when they played the Niners.
I did not like the Raiders move to LA, don’t like the move to LV either, that’s business S— I set aside.
Go Niners!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, loved Bill King!
Never a genius ever!!!
Ron wolf was
I agree. An Oakland 2-psl holder from 1997-2001 (moved to Porkland in 02) and Papa never seemed genuine to me. But I do wish idiot SF hadnt blown that Superbowl, allowing KC to win on RAIDERS turf!
Papa stinks never liked the guy, and he only proved that by being a traitor!
MD isn’t a genius or idiot he is a normal NFL team owner. He doesn’t and never did make any big decisions with personnel. I don’t know if you are part of the fan base that says owners shouldn’t mess with their teams but most fans wanted an owner who didn’t meddle with it.
So I don’t understand exactly where some of you fans stand! is it meddle or let the coaches/ GMs’ run things?
Its’ been new, outside NFL people who run the Raiders since ’12. That wasn’t what Al wanted but it was what the NFL did. Look at their culture they Al loved speed, size and elite players the new regimes look for cheaper, more real football player types and they don’t really like to get bigger, faster guys. The results were good at first but most have been mediocre. They sometimes seem like they’re erasing Al’s history/ era and want to screw the team and make it look bad. If that sounds like a conspiracy I’m sorry but the Raiders refuse to spend or get star/ pro bowl players and losing and making better decisions/ trying to get better players that long makes no sense.
You got what you wanted…NFL people running the team, Al wasn’t really an NFL exec IMO. He was an AFL guy first then an NFL guy.
Rick, you’re glad man is dead? dude….come on! what crime did he commit!? maybe you meant it differently in a football sense or another sense. You looking for somebody that changed things in pro sports he’s the man. He helped minorities, execs, bought new ways to play defense and drafted some guys/ helped a lot of guys become HOF’ers.
To Rick!,
Greg Papa!?
Greg is upset, heart broken, offended and hurt! He loves the Al Davis or real Raiders but he doesn’t like this new system! He was probably friends with Al and he loved the team.
It wasn’t Greg who quit the Raiders he was fired by MD. They had some issues and they didn’t get along so MD decided to fire him- or was it other people in the Raiders who had it done?
The Raiders have good game day broadcasters in Las Vegas but none of them are as good as Greg!
Greg ain’t a traitor! he just told the truth. He didn’t like the moves made by MD and maybe Reggie too. He loved the Raiders, the culture and Raidernation and maybe the O.co Coliseum too. He wasn’t against the new regimes or making some changes but maybe its seeing a lot of Al’s vision erased and the team not trying to use/ keep some of it even if they moved on from it and have a game plan and some of MD’s actions he thought were embarrassing and wrong. He probably was worried if they had a game plan and didn’t want to use some of Al’s ideas or old employees to get help from them to build a good football team.
He said some things about the Raiders mostly about the 49ers’ loss in the Super Bowl he knew it should hurt MD and maybe the comments seemed mean/ cold and negative. but after all the money the Raiders are making does MD even notice/ care about the comments?
Did Al owe or say/ do something wrong to some people? MD allegedly tried to make up for some of those things.
coach Mike Shannahan interviewed? for what???
Remember, anybody connected to Al was fired!
I notice that any players traded, let go, retiring from the Raiders and works for another team or makes a comment in the news about them some of you fans attack them.
Stanford Routt- Reggie let Routt walk and K.C. signed him, before they played- fans went after Routt after light comments about the Reggie regime. On the Raiders 1st play, rookie QB Derrick Carr threw a pass against Routt and he picked it off.
Josh Jacobs- He was upset because L.V. refused to bring in talent to help him. when they didn’t sign, draft or trade for star OLs’ or a QB he knew they’d suck and when they let him walk he was off the team and able to let his feelings out and he complained about it.