41st Annual Great Sports Legends Dinner to Benefit The Buoniconti Fund
Sports champions and cultural icons will gather Oct. 5 in New York to raise support for The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis and the research programs of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis.
2026 Great Sports Legends Dinner at a Glance
- When: Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, beginning at 5:30 p.m.
- Where: New York Hilton Midtown, 1335 Sixth Ave.
- Purpose: To support The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis and the research programs of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis.
- Tickets and tables: Visit the official Great Sports Legends Dinner event page.
Sports Hall of Famers, world champions, Olympic gold medalists and cultural icons will come together on Oct. 5 in New York to be honored and raise awareness and funds for research and treatment of paralysis and other neurological diseases and disorders.
The 2026 Great Sports Legends honorees are:
- Rob Gronkowski, four-time NFL Super Bowl champion, five-time NFL Pro Bowler and four-time first team All-Pro
- Shaun White, a five-time Olympian and three-time Olympic gold medalist in halfpipe snowboarding, the most Olympic gold medals won by a snowboarder.
- Laila Ali, five-time World Boxing Champion and boxing Hall of Famer, who retired with a perfect 24–0 professional record, including 21 knockouts
- Misty May-Treanor, three-time Olympic gold medalist and volleyball Hall of Famer who dominated beach volleyball with 112 consecutive tournament wins and 42 career titles
- Dale Jarrett, three-time Daytona 500 winner, 1999 NASCAR Cup Series champion and 2014 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee
- Andruw Jones, Major League Baseball Hall of Famer, five-time All-Star, 10-time Gold Glove Award winner and 2005 Silver Slugger
- Chris Webber, NBA rookie of the Year in 1994, five-time NBA All-Star, five-time All-NBA Team member and 2021 inductee into the National Basketball Hall of Fame.
- Chamique Holdsclaw, WNBA six-time All-Star and 2023 Basketball Hall of Fame inductee
- Mark Recchi, three-time Stanley Cup champion, seven-time All-Star and member of the hockey Hall of Fame
- John Randle, Super Bowl champion and seven-time NFL Pro Bowler who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010.
- Edgar Prado, Hall of Fame jockey, Eclipse Award winner and three-time North American riding champion who won the 2006 Kentucky Derby aboard Barbaro
Shane Battier, the two-time NBA champion, NCAA champion and member of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, will receive The Buoniconti Fund Award in recognition of his philanthropic work.
Music icon, philanthropist, nine-time Grammy Award winner and Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree Gloria Estefan is serving as Master of Ceremonies. Estefan’s connection to The Buoniconti Fund dates back to 1990, when she suffered a severe spinal cord injury in a tour bus accident. Bob Costas, a 28-time Emmy Award winning broadcaster, 12-time Olympic Games host and baseball and broadcasting Hall of Famer, is narrating the video tributes to the honorees.
Why This Event Matters
The Great Sports Legends Dinner raises awareness and support for The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis, the fundraising arm of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis.
The Miami Project conducts discovery, translational and clinical investigations related to traumatic spinal cord and brain injury, peripheral nerve injury and neurological diseases and disorders.
Support from honorees, sponsors and donors helps advance the organization’s research mission.
The dinner will feature a special musical performance by the multiple Grammy Award-winning band, Train. Guests will bid on one-of-a-kind sports memorabilia, jewelry, trips and more during the evening’s auction.
This year, Marc Buoniconti, the namesake and president of The Buoniconti Fund, will celebrate his 60th birthday. Marc was paralyzed making a routine tackle during a college football game when he was 19. Doctors, researchers and other medical professionals at The Miami Project continue their quest and keep their promise to Marc’s now late father, the NFL Hall of Famer Nick Buoniconti, to “stand up for those who can’t” and find a cure for paralysis and other neurological diseases and disorders.
“Forty-one years ago, my life changed forever,” said Marc Buoniconti. “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, with Miami Project co-founder and chairman Dr. Barth Green, and others into action to find a cure for paralysis and other neurological diseases and conditions.”
Presenting sponsors are Tudor Group and the Mack Family. Mark Dalton of Tudor Group is longtime event chairman, with co-chairs Reed Mack and Richard Gray. Christine E. Lynn is the red-carpet sponsor for the Great Sports Legends Dinner.
Since its inception in 1986, The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis has honored more than 400 sports legends and honorees and raised millions for The Miami Project’s 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.
More from The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis
The 2026 Legends Dinner honored 11 athletes and announced a $1 million gift supporting drug discovery and The Miami Project’s research.
Miller School of Medicine research shows how Alzheimer’s-related biology may intensify brain damage after traumatic brain injury.
A Steinbrenner Scholar draws on his experience with spinal cord injury and BCI technology to help researchers identify future studies.
Miller School researchers found early Alzheimer’s-related damage in lab-grown intestinal tissue, revealing new clues about the gut-brain connection.
Tags: Great Sports Legends Dinner, Marc Buoniconti, Nick Buoniconti, spinal cord injuries, The Buoniconti Fund, The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis, The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis