Bragg is a fun-loving Renaissance man who grew up in South Jersey. Name an activity, and there's a good chance he has done it.

Won a gold medal in the Olympics? Check.

Acted in TV commercials? Check.

Ran a summer camp for inner-city kids? Check.

A one-time star athlete at Penns Grove High and Villanova, Bragg has traveled the world because of his pole-vaulting skills.

He has performed in the pole vault in Italy and Africa, and also in Penns Grove, Mount Laurel and a gazillion other places.

He has been a poet, an author and an athletic director.

He has appeared in national commercials, served as a motivational speaker, played the role of Tarzan in a movie that was never released because of litigation issues, owned a health club and a kayak-rental outlet, and worked for the New Jersey governor's office as a youth-recreation advisor.

Oh, and he won that gold medal at the 1960 Rome Olympics.

As I said, the man has done it all.

Bragg, who will turn 73 in two weeks, lives in California but has been in the area recently. He instructed pole vaulters and presented awards at last weekend's Penn Relays at Franklin Field - and while in town, talked up his latest book, Kamp Olympik. He has also returned to his roots to help Penns Grove, a tiny Salem County high school, celebrate the 100th anniversary of its first graduating class.

Tomorrow from 6 to 10 p.m., Penns Grove alumni will meet for cocktails at the Washington Club in Penns Grove.

Just a hunch: Bragg, a born storyteller who grew up wanting to be Tarzan, will be sipping on Captain Morgan's rum and will be the center of attention.

"It's going to be great to see old friends and talk about old memories," Bragg said the other day. "It's funny, there are so many people [from the past] and you forget their personalities, and as soon as you hear them for a few seconds and see their gestures, it all comes back - and you realize they're the same person they were" in high school.

Penns Grove has a lot of activities planned for the weekend, including a celebration at Dunn's Park in neighboring Carney's Point on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Bands will be playing, Penns Grove memorabilia will be on display, and yearbooks will be sold.

On Sunday from 2 to 6 p.m., an all-classes reunion will be held at Penns Grove High.

As of now, Bragg's appearance tomorrow looks like the highlight. That is, unless Bruce Willis, a 1973 Penns Grove grad who is a world-famous movie star, decides to drop by.

"He's been invited, but we don't know if he'll be there," said Dave Gallagher, a Penns Grove media-center specialist who is helping coordinate the 100-year celebration. "You never know with Bruce; he shows up at a lot of events here."

Willis never played sports at Penns Grove, Gallagher said.

"He was involved in the band and plays and student government - things like that," he said.

Bragg was a star athlete at Penns Grove who excelled at Villanova and won the pole vault in the 1960 Olympics by clearing 15 feet, 5 inches with a steel pole, which is now as outdated as an eight-track player.

Five years ago, he wrote A Chance to Dare: The Don Bragg Story. The book is filled with entertaining anecdotes about his youth (he used to leap over ditches with a bamboo pole, stirring his interest in the pole vault) and the bizarre adventures of a world tour he made with other Olympians, along with the numerous health obstacles he has overcome.

Kamp Olympik, is about the sometimes-wacky, always-amusing inner-city camp that was run by Bragg and his wife, Theresa. For 10 years, they gave hundreds of young boys a taste of the great outdoors in the Jersey Pinelands (Camden meets the country?). Campers even received a visit from a former Olympic boxer of note, a guy named Muhammad Ali.

Bragg said he and his staff showed the youngsters how to compete in the classroom and on the playing field - and taught them "the art of growing up great."

If you're in the Penns Grove area tomorrow night, stop by and he'll bend your ear a little. You won't be disappointed. And you definitely won't be bored.

And, yes, you'll probably hear a Tarzan call or two.

or scarchidi@phillynews.com.