Sparta - Thirty years ago, Bruce Jenner caught lightning in a bottle, and he’s kept it with him ever since. It’s not that easy to do; to have one shining moment and make it last a lifetime. But Jenner has done it. And on Friday, Nov. 17, he’s coming to Pope John XXIII High School in Sparta to talk about how others can, too. The occasion is the Third Annual Beefsteak dinner sponsored by the high school’s booster club to raise money for scholarships and support for more than 40 athletic teams and academic clubs. Jenner isn’t charging for his appearance, which was arranged by club member Wayne Anderson, a friend of the 1976 Olympic decathlon champion who works for one of the athlete’s sponsors. By his own account, Jenner didn’t expect to amount to much as a kid growing up in Westchester County, N.Y. Unaware that he was dyslexic, a condition little understood at the time, “I suffered from low self-esteem,” he said. But he had athletic talent that began to blossom when his family moved to Connecticut, where he attended high school. A competitive water skier, he became the Connecticut state champion in the high jump and pole vault. He also excelled at football and won a scholarship to Graceland College in Iowa. After a knee injury, he gave up football and concentrated on the decathlon. In the 1970s, there was no pot of gold at the end of the Olympic rainbow. Athletes were supposed to be amateurs, and anyone caught openly taking money to train or perform was banned from the Games. “I wasn’t in it for the money,” he said “I wanted to be the best in the world at something.” So, after graduating from college with a degree in physical education, Jenner got a job as a New England Life Insurance agent, driving a 63 VW Beetle he bought for $175 and training for the decathlon on his own with only his dog for company. He competed in the 1972 Munich Games, just another athlete at a competition scarred by murder of Jewish athletes by Palestinian terrorists. Four years later, in Montreal, he was ready for his moment. “I was in the right place at the right time,” he said. It was the year of America’s bicentennial and patriotism was at a high. It was also before cable TV, so most people got just three network stations, and everybody watched the Olympics. Plus, he was a shaggy-haired kid with a great smile and an overdose of charisma, a male Mary Lou Retton, competing in the discipline whose champion lays claim to the title, “World’s Greatest Athlete.” When he won and did a victory lap with an American flag, he thought that would be it and he’d be off to teach gym. But Wheaties slapped his picture on its cereal boxes, ABC offered him a job as a commentator, and he found himself employed as an American hero for as long as he wanted the job. “I call it finding the champion within,” he said of the motivational talk he will give at Pope John. “I firmly believe we all have the ability to do extraordinary things. Some of us bring it out and some don’t. I was just an average guy who found my thing in sports.” Jenner lives in California with his wife, Kris Kardashian, “the love of my life.” In three marriages, he’s accumulated ten children, aged 9 to 28. He’s made movies, been in “Skating with the Stars,” and says life has never been better. Tickets for the dinner, which will be held at 7 p.m. in the Pope John gym, are $40 and must be purchased in advance. For tickets or information, call Frank Belardo at 973-729-2519, Pete Pensec at 973-729-7940 or any booster club member.