Everyone has had that one brush with fame.
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A meeting with a favourite musician, actor or sportstar. Or it could be a politician or another famous person. In some cases it has been a brush with royalty.
Local resident Glenn “Grub” Tyson recently had one of those moments while holidaying in the United States.
He ran into one of his favourite actors Kevin Costner at a Harlem Globetrotters game at the University of California at Santa Barbara.
“I’m a huge fan,” Mr Tyson said.
“It was pretty cool to meet him. He was really nice.”
It started us thinking about those “special moments”.
Lucy Sweet
My brush in fame was many decades ago, while I was at Wollongong Uni (early to mid ’90s) doing my Bachelor of Commerce.
I went on a cultural exchange program for two weeks in San Diego and then onto visit a old high school (exchange) friend at Duke University in North Carolina. Unexpectedly, I found myself with a few days to spare and nowhere to be, so I decided I would go to Chicago and see Oprah Winfrey's Talk Show! Talk about naive!
Chicago city was minus 2 degrees celcius in the middle of the day and under many feet of snow! The taxi driver who picked me up from the airport asked "What brings you to Chicago?". I replied "I am here to see Oprah!" (whom I loved). He laughed and replied "Good luck with that! There is a two year waiting list!".
To cut a long story short, I rang the ticket hotline from 9am to 5pm for three days straight (engaged signal every time!) to no avail. On the fourth day, I grabbed a German backpacker I had met at the hostel and told her of my plans to go to Harpo Studio! We took the train and knocked on the door of Harpo Studios, explaining that we were from Australia and Germany, and had come all across the world to see an Oprah show! The staff looked at our ID and let us be in the audience for the very next taping! The topic was "Would you rather be liked or respected?". The best part was after the show, we all got to line up, meet Oprah and shake her hand!
We did take a photo of each other (analogue back in those days!) outside the studio but Kerstin didn't work my camera properly and my photo never existed (to this day, I have never told her!). 25 years later, mostly thanks to Facebook, we are still in daily contact and friends!
Robert Crawford
I remember fondly meeting Sir Donald Bradman at the official opening of the Bradman Museum in Bowral.
As a sports mad young reporter to walk into the VIP section and see Sir Donald sitting with Lady Jessie and across the aisle his old sparring partner Bill O’Reilly was incredible. Great allrounder Alan Davidson was there as was television personality Ray Martin. Shoalhaven’s own Mr Cricket Foster Emery was also among the special guests.
On another occasion I got to interview another great Aussie allrounder Keith Miller at the SCG, that was another special moment. As was playing cricket against another hero of mine Doug Walters as a youngster in a Tooheys Cup match.
Meeting some of the incredible Victorian Cross recipients great mate Rick Meehan has brought to town and of course the patriarch of them all, the unforgettable Keith Payne was also a highlight.
As a youngster I remember meeting Aussie daredevil Dale Buggins at the Nowra Show and watching him perform. And later to photograph our own Robbie Maddison perform the first ever backlflip at the Nowra Showground during a Nowra Show.
Along the way there has been meetings with Australian Rugby captains Mark Ella, Michael Lynagh and George Gregan, and the mercurial David Campese.
Taking my kids to Canberra to watch hockey and meeting a number of Australian players including the legendary Jamie Dwyer was a highlight.
But honestly I get as much out of seeing our local sport stars excel at the local level and later national and international level.
John Hanscombe
In 1992 I was sent by the magazine for which I worked to New York to cover an international modelling competition.
One of the associated events was a dinner cruise around Manhattan. As we waited at the pier, men dressed in blazers and slacks, women in cocktail dresses, two characters in confectionery coloured velour leisure suits ascended the gang plank. It was Donald and Marla Trump and she was not happy, no doubt embarrassed by the choice of outfits and the fact their late arrival meant all eyes were on them.
Meeting Clare Hollingworth, who broke the story of German invasion of Poland in 1939, at the Foreign Correspondents Club in Hong Kong was incredible. A living link to such a momentous event was bound to leave an impression.
Melanie Judd
My most unique brush with fame was when I met Nikki Sixx from the Motley Crüe.
I served him and his young blonde bombshell wife at the CHANEL Castlereagh Street boutique in Sydney last year. He was wearing his trademark bandana, rocking the big hair, leathers, eyeliner and reeked of cigarettes and alcohol.
I mentioned that my Dad is a musician and was a big fan of his music and Nikki gave me two signed Motley Crew guitar picks.
Dayle Latham
Todd Sampson, of BodyHack, Redesign My Brain and Gruen Transfer fame.
I met him recently along with former South Coast Register journalist Gillian Lett at the filming of the Gruen Transfer in Sydney for the start of the latest season.
I met the McClymonts with Gillian Lett and Jess Long at Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre in April 2015 when they played here and played in a volleyball tournament in December 2013 with personal trainer Libby Babet from Biggest Loser Australia.
Courtney Ward
South Coast Register sports editor meets various sportstars through his popular Wide Ward of Sports show.
Three of his favourite brushes with fame have been with one of his sporting idols Andrew “Roy” Symonds at the Mount Isa Rodeo.
Aussie female basketball legend Liz Cambage at a music concert in Sydney.
I met Tottenham Hotspur and the England star Harry Kane at a music concert in Sydney.
My trip to the Rio Olympics was a great opportunity. We ran into swim star Michael Klim, and tennis stars Samantha Stosur and Thanasi Kokkinakis.
Rachael Thornett
I met Australian Idol host James Mathison at the Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers Association (PANPA) awards in Sydney.
Nicolette Pickard
I got to met Red Dog in Brisbane many years ago. It was a great day. I was later dealt a devastating blow in 2012 when he died. Farewell, Red Dog.
Send us your brush with fame
If you’ve had a brush with fame we’d love to hear about it. Email your photo and details, including where you had your encounter, to robert.crawford@fairfaxmedia.com.au