WHAT:
Bob Costas
hosts the 24th
Annual Great Sports Legends Dinner to
benefit The
Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis, a
non-profit organization which is the fundraising arm
of The Miami
Project to Cure Paralysis, the world’s
most comprehensive spinal cord injury research
center, based at the University of Miami Miller
School of Medicine.
WHO:
The 2009 Great
Sports Legends and Honorees to date include:
o
Troy Aikman
–
Dallas Cowboys Hall of Fame quarterback.
Highlights include three-time Super Bowl Champion
and 1993 MVP, six-times selected to the Pro Bowl,
All-Pro, College Hall of Fame inductee; current
sportscaster for the Fox network; co-owner of NASCAR
Sprint Cup racing team.
o
Clyde Drexler
–Ten-time NBA All-Star and
member of the Basketball Hall of Fame and 50
Greatest NBA Players of all time; former shooting
guard for the Portland Trailblazers and Houston
Rockets; 1992 Olympic gold medal winner; current
commentator for the Rockets.
o
Mike Piazza
–
Former catcher for the New York Mets, LA
Dodgers considered the best hitting catcher of all
time; twelve-time All-star; career record holder for
home runs by a catcher; ten-time Silver Slugger
Award winner and NL Rookie of the Year winner in
1993.
o
Ivan Lendl
– Considered one of the
greatest professional tennis players of all time
with ten Grand Slam singles titles and 144 career
tournament titles.
o
Rusty Wallace
– Former NASCAR Premier
Series champion, NASCAR Nationwide Series car owner;
55-time race winner (eighth best all-time career
total, seventh best in NASCAR modern era); recently,
ESPN and ABC Sports broadcaster.
o
Brett Hull
–
Known as “The Golden Brett”; a 2009 NHL Hall of Fame
inductee; played 5 teams including the Calgary
Flames, St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars; current
executive vice president of the Dallas Stars.
o
Dara Torres
– Twelve-time Olympic medal winner
(four gold, four silver, four bronze), five of which
were in Sydney in 2000 and the
First American swimmer to compete in
5 Olympics.
o
Pat Day
–
Hall of Fame American Jockey with 8803 career wins,
four-time winner of the Eclipse Award for
Outstanding Jockey has
ridden winners of
U.S. Triple Crown races nine
times.
o
Chris Waddell
–
Paralympian and five-time gold medalist;
most decorated male skier in Paralympic history,
winning twelve medals over four games.
o
Stewart Rahr
–
President,
CEO and sole owner of Kinray, the largest privately
held pharmaceutical distributorship in the world,
will receive the 2009 Outstanding Philanthropist
Award for his tireless contributions to those less
fortunate.
o
Adrienne Arsht
–
Chairman Emerita of TotalBank, a
respected national business leader and hands-on
philanthropist for many worthy causes, will
receive The 2009 Buoniconti Fund Award.
o
Jack Schneider
–
Managing Director, Allen & Company,
Chairman of The Buoniconti Fund to Cure
Paralysis will receive The Barth A. Green Spirit
Award.
o
Dr.
Maya Angelou
- Writer, dancer,
African-American activist and educator.
WHEN:
Tuesday,
October 6, 2009 /
Cocktails begin: 6:00PM /
Dinner: 7:30PM
WHERE:
Waldorf=Astoria
Hotel / Grand Ballroom
MISC:
In 1985, Barth A.
Green, M.D. and NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Nick
Buoniconti helped found The
Miami Project to Cure Paralysis after
Nick’s son, Marc, sustained a spinal cord injury
during a college football game. Today, The Miami
Project, a Center
of
Excellence at the University of Miami
Miller School of Medicine, is the world’s most
comprehensive spinal cord injury research center and
is housed in the Lois Pope
LIFE Center. The Miami Project’s international team of more than 200
scientists, researchers and clinicians take
innovative approaches to the challenge of spinal
cord injury. Committed to finding a cure for
paralysis resulting from spinal cord injury and to
seeing millions worldwide walk again, the Buoniconti
family established The Buoniconti Fund to Cure
Paralysis in 1992, a non-profit organization devoted
to assisting The Miami Project achieve its national and international
goals.
Tickets start at $850 per
person. Sponsorships and opportunities to sit with
Legends are available. Tables and tickets can be
purchased by phone at 305-243-4656, 212-245-6570 or
online at
www.thebuonicontifund.org