National Basketball Association

Buonicontis celebrate relationship with Heat

Published Mar. 13, 2010 1:33 a.m. ET

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There might soon be a day, Nick Buoniconti says, when he won't need to ask for any more money from organizations like the Miami Heat.

Just not yet.

The NFL Hall of Fame linebacker and his son, disability activist Marc Buoniconti, presented the Heat organization with an award Friday to recognize more than 20 years of the team's support of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. Nearly $350 million has been raised by the group, hatched after Marc Buoniconti became paralyzed from the neck down after making a tackle for The Citadel in 1985.

``We're close,'' Nick Buoniconti said. ``We're so close. We can't stop. We're on the 1-yard line, and we're going for it.''

Heat owner Micky Arison and his family have given money to the organization since its inception, even dating back to before Miami's NBA franchise played its first game.

Fans were also urged to support the cause Friday night, through text-messaging and other means.

``Marc and Nick have done a great job in promoting this cause,'' Arison said before the Heat played the Chicago Bulls on Friday. ``We've been involved with it from the very beginning and there's a lot of folks, in this community and others, that are very supportive. I think folks are aware that they're close, so that's encouraging. That encourages people to continue to support them.''

Nick Buoniconti founded The Miami Project with renown neurosurgeon Dr. Barth Green in 1985, not long after Marc Buoniconti's life was changed immeasurably.

Marc Buoniconti was 19 when his team played at East Tennessee on Oct. 26, 1985. It was a third-down play when he made a tackle, dislocating his C-3, 4 vertebrae on the play and instantly knowing he was paralyzed. Doctors said he could have easily died because of his injuries.

Marc Buoniconti now helps run The Miami Project. He and his father have worked ever since on a cure, not just for paralysis, but for things such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases as well.

``We've been close with them for a long time, and vice versa,'' Arison said. ``It's great, and I hope we get there very soon.''

And as the research group as gotten closer, raising dollars have gotten tougher in a down economy.

``It's 25 years and almost $350 million later, and it's a lot of dedication by our staff and our scientists and Marc,'' said Nick Buoniconti, now 69 years old and looking fit as ever. ``What I marvel at every day is not so much the fact that I get up ... and you've got to do more than private philanthropy, but that it's been so gratifying. People know our organization. People think of it as incredible.

``My son Marc gets up and can't move his arms and legs. So if I'm feeling sorry for myself, all I do is think about him.''

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