GREAT SPORTS LEGENDS DINNER

The highlight of this evening is paying tribute to our “Great Sports Legends” from different sporting categories and honorees who both inspire and motivate others.  The Great Sports Legends Dinner is The Buoniconti Fund’s premiere fundraiser in support of The Miami Project. Each year, more than 800 celebrities and notables from the worlds of entertainment, sports and media are treated to an evening that is both entertaining and inspirational.

Past Legends and Honorees include: Past Legends and Honorees include: Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Jack Nicklaus, Wayne Gretzky, Phil Collins, Andre Agassi, David Ortiz, Simone Biles, Willie Mays, Buzz Aldrin, Gloria Estefan, Tommy Lee Jones, Venus Williams, Mia Hamm, Magic Johnson, Dorothy Hamill, Dwyane Wade, Chris Evert, Helio Castroneves, Dan Marino, Joe DiMaggio, Mario Andretti, Cal Ripken, Jr., Dr. Maya Angelou, Pitbull, Michael Strahan, John McEnroe, Jorge Posada, Bob Costas, John Elway, Pat Riley, Tony Hawk, Christian Slater, Julio Iglesias, Lindsey Vonn, Kelly Slater, Joe Torre, Jerry Rice, Alex Rodriguez, and Shaquille O’Neal and many more other athletes and heroes who recognize that paralyzing injuries can and do occur in the pursuit of athletic careers and everyday lives.

ALBERT PUJOLS, DOMINIQUE WILKINS, WARREN MOON, DWIGHT HOWARD, THURMAN THOMAS, KURT BUSCH, JEREMY ROENICK, APOLO OHNO, MICHELLE WIE WEST & FRANKIE DETTORI HONORED AT

THE 40^th ANNUAL GREAT SPORTS LEGENDS DINNER TO BENEFIT

THE BUONICONTI FUND TO CURE PARALYSIS

Music Icon Gloria Estefan and Broadcasting Legend Bob Costas were Emcees

 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Band Foreigner Performed Medley of Hits and a Special Tribute Song to Marc Buoniconti 

Dr. Barth Green, Co-Founder and Chairman of The Miami Project, Received the 2025 Buoniconti Fund Award

Mario Gabelli Received the 2025 Outstanding Philanthropist Award

Title Sponsors were The DiMare Family and the Paul J. DiMare Foundation

Presenting Sponsors were Tudor Group and The Mack Family

New York (September 29, 2025) – Over 900 distinguished individuals, including leading figures from the worlds of sports, entertainment, business, philanthropy, medicine, and community leadership convened tonight at the New York Hilton to honor Marc Buoniconti’s remarkable life and to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of both the Great Sports Legends Dinner and the founding of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis.

The dinner benefitted The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis, the fundraising arm of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, a designated Center of Excellence at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine and the leading global research center conducting cutting-edge discovery, translational and clinical investigations in traumatic spinal cord and brain injury, peripheral nerve injury, and neurological diseases and disorders, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS, Multiple Sclerosis, and stroke. Several million dollars were raised to support the organization’s research and treatment initiatives for spinal cord injuries and other neurological conditions.

The Buoniconti Fund is named for Marc Buoniconti, son of the legendary Hall of Fame football player Nick Buoniconti.  It was established by Nick after Marc was paralyzed making a tackle in a college football game 40 years ago.  The Great Sports Legends Dinner is the Fund’s largest and most successful fundraising initiative.

This year’s dinner recognized 10 athletes for their accomplishments both in sports and beyond. Each is a Hall of Famer, World Champion, Olympic Gold Medalist, or Icon, who all gathered for this milestone event.

The 2025 Great Sports Legends were:

• Albert Pujols, two-time World Series Champion, one of only two Major League Baseball players in history with more than 3,000 hits and 700 home runs

• Dominique Wilkins, NBA Hall of Famer, nine-time NBA All-Star, seven-time All-NBA Team member, NBA 75^th Anniversary Team member

• Warren Moon, NFL Hall of Famer, Canadian Football Hall of Famer, nine-time Pro Bowl quarterback, five-time Grey Cup Champion

• Dwight Howard, NBA Champion, 2025 Basketball Hall of Famer, eight-time All-Star, eight-time All-NBA Team honoree, three-time Defensive Player of the Year

• Thurman Thomas, NFL Hall of Fame running back, five-time Pro Bowler, NFL Most Valuable Player in 1991, College Football Hall of Famer

• Kurt Busch, 2026 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee, 2004 NASCAR Cup Series Champion, 2017 Daytona 500 winner

• Jeremy Roenick, NHL Hall of Famer, nine-time NHL All-Star, two-time U.S. Olympic Men’s Hockey Team member, including the 2002 Olympics Silver Medal winning team
• Apolo Ohno, Eight-time Olympic speedskating medalist, including two Golds, International Sports Hall of Fame and U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame member

• Michelle Wie West, 2014 U.S. Women’s Open Golf Champion and the youngest female to play in a LPGA event
• Frankie Dettori, QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame member, three-time British Flat Racing Champion Jockey, winner of nearly 300 Group 1 races

Dr. Barth Green, co-founder and chairman of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, received the 2025 Buoniconti Fund Award, and legendary investor and business icon Mario Gabelli received The Buoniconti Fund’s 2025 Outstanding Philanthropist Award.

Foreigner, 2024 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees with nine Billboard “Top Ten” hits and sales of more than 80 million albums, performed.  As a special tribute to Marc Buoniconti, they ended the night with a song that beautifully captured the spirit that permeated the ballroom: “I Want to Know What Love Is.”

Nine-time Grammy Award winner and Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree Gloria Estefan, and Bob Costas, 28-time Emmy winning broadcaster, 12-time Olympics host, and National Baseball and Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame member, served as event emcees. Estefan’s connection to The Buoniconti Fund dates back to when she suffered a severe spinal cord injury in a 1990 tour bus accident.  Costas has a years-long connection to The Buoniconti Fund, as emcee of the Great Sports Legends Dinner and narrator for its video tributes to the honorees.

“Forty years ago, my life changed forever,” Marc said. “What was just a simple tackle in a college football game was anything but simple for me and my family.  It could have been the end of my life, but it saved and transformed it instead.  My injury spurred my father (the late NFL Hall of Famer Nick Buoniconti), Dr. Barth Green and many others into action to find a cure for not just for my paralysis but for the millions of others in the U.S. and around the world who are living with spinal cord injuries, as well as the millions more living with other neurological diseases and conditions.  Thanks to the support of all the people here tonight, the Sports Legends, Honorees, sponsors, and donors who continue to join us at this Great Sports Legends Dinner, we are helping accelerate new treatments and therapies while changing medical history.”

Title sponsors were the DiMare Family and Paul J. DiMare Foundation, who announced a donation of $3.1 million to The Buoniconti Fund, in honor of family patriarch Paul, to launch an innovative clinical trial for ALS. Paul DiMare, who passed away in 2022, was a longtime member of The Buoniconti Fund Board who for many years championed The Miami Project’s cutting-edge research.

Presenting sponsors were Tudor Group and the Mack Family. The Great Sports Legends Dinner Photo Experience was sponsored by Christine E. Lynn, who also donated $500,000 in honor of Marc Buoniconti.  Mark Dalton was event chairman, and co-chairs were Reed Mack and Richard Gray.  Gloria and Emilio Estefan donated $40,000 in honor of the 40^th Anniversary of The Miami Project, the Great Sports Legends Dinner and her hit song Conga.

The 10 new Great Sports Legends joined such illustrious alumni as Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Jack Nicklaus, Wayne Gretzky, Phil Collins, Andre Agassi, Simone Biles, Willie Mays, Buzz Aldrin, Cal Ripken, Jr., Tommy Lee Jones, Mia Hamm, Magic Johnson, Dorothy Hamill, Dwyane Wade, Chris Evert, Helio Castroneves, Dan Marino, Joe DiMaggio, Mario Andretti, Dr. Maya Angelou, John McEnroe, John Elway, Pat Riley, Tony Hawk, Christian Slater, Julio Iglesias, Lindsey Vonn, Kelly Slater, Joe Torre, Jerry Rice, Shaquille O’Neal and more than 400 others.