Marc Buoniconti's Inspiring 40-Year Story Takes Center Stage at 40th Annual Great Sports Legends Dinner September 29th in New York City

Albert Pujols, Dominique Wilkins, Warren Moon, Dwight Howard, Thurman Thomas, Kurt Busch, Jeremy Roenick, Apolo Ohno, Michelle Wie West, Frankie Dettori Are Honorees at Dinner to Benefit The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis

Music Icon Gloria Estefan and Broadcasting Legend Bob Costas Emcee
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Band Foreigner Perform
Dr. Barth Green, Co-Founder and Chairman of The Miami Project, Receives The Buoniconti Fund Award
Mario Gabelli Receives Outstanding Philanthropist Award
Title Sponsor are The DiMare Family and Paul J. DiMare Foundation
Presenting Sponsors are Tudor Group and The Mack Family

NEW YORK, Aug. 5, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- 40 years after being paralyzed making a tackle in a college football game – a tackle he credits for saving his life -- Marc Buoniconti commemorates the milestone, and his 59^th birthday, at the 40^th Annual Great Sports Legends Dinner, Monday, September 29^th at the New York Hilton. The dinner, benefitting The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis, honors 10 athletes who have achieved the pinnacle of their respective sports as Hall of Famers, World Champions, Olympic Gold Medalists, and Sports Icons, and are coming together in an effort to raise awareness and millions of dollars for research and treatment of paralysis and other neurological diseases and disorders.

The 2025 Great Sports Legends are:

• 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, three-time Defensive Player of the Year
  
  
• Thurman Thomas, NFL Hall of Fame running back, five-time Pro Bowler, 1991 NFL Most Valuable Player, 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 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
  
  
• Frankie Dettori, QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Famer, 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, receives The Buoniconti Fund Award, and legendary investor and business Icon Mario Gabelli receives the Outstanding Philanthropist Award.

Music icon, philanthropist, eight-time Grammy Award winner and Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree Gloria Estefan, and Bob Costas, 28-time Emmy Award winning broadcaster, 12-time prime-time Olympic Games host, and National Baseball Hall of Famer and Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer, are Masters of Ceremonies. Estefan's connection to The Buoniconti Fund dates to 1992 when she suffered a severe spinal cord injury in a tour bus accident. Costas also has a long-time connection to The Buoniconti Fund, as Great Sports Legends Dinner emcee and narrator for its video tributes to the honorees.

Foreigner, 2024 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees with worldwide sales of more than 80 million albums, performs.

Title sponsors are the DiMare Family and Paul J. DiMare Foundation, and presenting sponsors are Tudor Group and the Mack Family. Mark Dalton of Tudor Group is longtime event chairman, and co-chairs are Reed Mack and Richard Gray.

The dinner benefits The Buoniconti Fund, 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 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.

"Forty years ago, my life changed forever," said Marc Buoniconti, Buoniconti Fund's President. "What was a simple tackle in a college football game was anything but simple for me and my family. That tackle could have ended my life, but it saved and transformed it. My injury spurred my father, the late NFL Hall of Famer Nick Buoniconti, Dr. Green and others into action to find a cure for paralysis and other neurological diseases and conditions. Each year we get closer, thanks to the support of the Sports Legends, honorees, sponsors and donors. This event helps accelerate new treatments so that soon the millions living with spinal cord and brain injuries, and other neurological injuries, can have effective cures."

The 10 new Great Sports Legends join such alumni as Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Jack Nicklaus, Wayne Gretzky, Phil Collins, Andre Agassi, David Ortiz, 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, Bob Costas, John Elway, Pat Riley, Tony Hawk, Christian Slater, Julio Iglesias, Lindsey Vonn, Kelly Slater, Joe Torre, Jerry Rice, Shaquille O'Neal and others who recognize that paralyzing injuries occur in the pursuit of athletic careers and everyday lives.

The dinner attracts more than 1,000 sports legends, celebrities, philanthropists, corporate leaders and other notables, and includes a spectacular auction featuring one-of-a-kind sports memorabilia items, magnificent jewelry, and more. 

Since its inception in 1986, the dinner has honored more than 400 Sports Legends and honorees and raised millions for The Miami Project's spinal cord injury research programs, with the goal to find cures for paralysis resulting from spinal cord injury and seeing millions worldwide walk again and recover from neurological injuries and conditions.

The 40th Annual Great Sports Legends Dinner begins at 5:30 PM at the New York Hilton Midtown, 1335 6th Ave. For tickets and tables, contact Stephanie Sayfie Aagaard, 305-243-4656, or [email protected], or visit: www.thebuonicontifund.com/gsld40

For more information about The Buoniconti Fund, visit: www.TheBuonicontiFund.com. To participate on social media, follow Facebook @cureparalysis, Instagram @TheMiamiProject or X @BuonicontiFund using hashtags #SportsLegendsDinner, #CureParalysis and #StandUpForThoseWhoCant.

Media Contact:
Bruce Bobbins, 908-586-5742 / [email protected]

SOURCE The Buoniconti Fund