The ninth annual Bronx Walk of Fame induction ceremony capped off the weeklong celebration of Bronx Week.

Honorees included Broadway producer Manny Azenberg, rapper Afrika Bambaataa, NFL Hall of Famer Art Donovan, best-selling author Mary Higgins-Clark, news anchor Tony Guida, musician Bobby Sanabria and Latina singer La India.

All but La India were introduced to a black-tie audience at the Bronx Ball on Friday at Orchard Beach.

Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión, Jr. kicked off the evening by singing a few lines from the Frank Sinatra tune, “New York, New York,” and went on to praise the strides made in the Bronx over the past several years.

 

"[Bronx Week] gives us an opportunity to tell a whole generation of kids that you can start in the Bronx, in the best place in the whole wide world.” Carrión said to a chorus of cheers. “You can start in the Bronx and get anywhere. You can achieve anything.”

 After Carrión introduced the Bronx-born stars, each took a short trip down memory lane.

Now, using the aid of a cane, Donovan, the former Baltimore Colts defensive tackle who beat the New York Giants in the NFL Championship game in 1958, often referred to as “The Greatest Game,” recalled his days living on East 202nd Street in Bedford Park and playing football on the Mosholu Parkway mall.

Cardinal Hayes High School graduate Sanabria, who grew up in the Melrose Houses, said: “What can I say about growing up in the Bronx. When I left it to go to college and later began traveling as a professional musician, I came to the realization that the Bronx was the most exciting place on the earth.”

Bambaataa, a pioneer of hip-hop culture, boomed, “So, in honor of the great Sly and the Family Stone, as they say, to everybody, you can make it if you try, everybody is a star…here!”