Laila Ali makes history with Greatest Sports Legends Dinner honor 40 years after iconic father

The first Greatest Sports Legends Dinner was held on Oct. 1, 1986 at the Waldorf Astoria, supporting the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. It traced back to Marc Buoniconti’s spinal cord injury on Oct. 26, 1985, when the former The Citadel football player dislocated C3 and C4 and was left paralyzed from the shoulders down. His father, Hall of Fame linebacker Nick Buoniconti, co-founded the Miami Project by the end of 1985 with neurosurgeon Dr. Barth A. Green. Monday night at Hilton in Midtown, Laila Ali will become part of the first father-daughter honoree pair, 40 years apart, alongside recipients including Shane Battier, Chris Webber, Rob Gronkowski and others.