brush with greatness

cliché A brief or fleeting experience of intense success, renown, glory, etc. His one brush with greatness was when he won the state championships in wrestling when he was a senior in high school—and he still talks about it any chance he gets. I had a brush with greatness in college when several of my short stories were published in The New Yorker. He had a brush with greatness when he was first called up to the majors, but his career was ultimately cut short by injuries.