Paul Simon earned the ultimate accolade of the music profession in 2001 when he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in honor of his years of creative brillliance. It is impossible to discuss Paul Simon's work without noting his absolute refusal to be type cast or set into a genre from his earliest collaboration with Art Garfunkel in the sixties, his solo work at the consistent top of the charts, and his form, in the seventies, or his embrace and critically acclaimed experimentation with African and South American musical forms in the eighties and nineties, Mr. Simon gambles and wins in every endeavor, however different from his earlier work.

But it is the perpetual melding of two icons that compelled his selection for the Joe DiMaggio Award. That event was Mr. Simon's asking, "Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you?" That famous lyric will forever link these two icons.

His tally of successful and critically acclaimed works include Graceland (album of the year at the Grammy Awards in 1987), Rhythm of theSaints, Paul Simon Collection, Still Crazy After All These Years and You're the One. Hit singles include Mother and Child Reunion, Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard, Loves Me Like a Rock, Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover. They are a cultural roadmap of the seventies and eighties. And, commercially, Mr. Simon's art has sold 14 million copies of Best of Simon and Garfunkel, as well as one million units of the 1999 anniversary album.

Of further note is Mr. Simon's love of children, culminating in the work he does for the Children's Health Fund, a kindness he shares with Joe DiMaggio's legendary advocacy of children; his free concerts for the cith he loves; and his avowed and intense reverence for Joe DiMaggio. Because both men are so closely related in the consciece of the generations, there could not be a more profound award, or more pleasurable acceptance, than this award combination.