More than 900 distinguished supporters from the worlds of sports, entertainment, business, philanthropy, medicine, and community leadership celebrated the 40th Anniversary of both the Great Sports Legends Dinner and the founding of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis in New York City on Monday, September 29th.

The dinner benefited 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. Several million dollars were raised to support this 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.

The 2025 Great Sports Legends were:

• Albert Pujols, two-time World Series Champion
• Dominique Wilkins, NBA Hall of Famer and NBA 75^th Anniversary Team member

• Warren Moon, NFL Hall of Famer, Canadian Football Hall of Famer

• Dwight Howard, NBA Champion, 2025 Basketball Hall of Famer
• Thurman Thomas, NFL Hall of Fame running back

• Kurt Busch, 2026 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee

• Jeremy Roenick, NHL Hall of Famer, nine-time NHL All-Star

• Apolo Ohno, Eight-time Olympic speedskating medalist and Olympic Hall of Famer

• Michelle Wie West, 2014 U.S. Women’s Open Golf Champion

• Frankie Dettori, QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame member

Dr. Barth Green, co-founder and chairman of The Miami Project, 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 performed. Nine-time Grammy Award winner and Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree Gloria Estefan, and Bob Costas, 28-time Emmy winning broadcaster served as event emcees.

Title sponsors were the DiMare Family, including Swanee, Tony and Scott DiMare, and the 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.

Presenting sponsors were Tudor Group and the Mack Family. Buoniconti Fund Board Member  Christine E. Lynn, 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.