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Monday
Evening QB
THEY'RE World Champions, so it's only right that the Aiea Junior Little League all-stars became world travelers, too. The World belongs
to Aiea JuniorsHappy, weary world travelers.
It was around 1 this morning when the baggy-eyed players and coaches finally cleared customs at Honolulu International Airport and stepped into the embraces of loved ones. A three-week odyssey that included stops in California, Idaho, Michigan, Pennsylvania and not-on-the-itinerary Canada was finally completed.
After winning the World Series in Taylor, Mich. on Saturday, they flew to Pittsburgh and were supposed to then go to San Francisco before the last leg home. But the team was re-routed to Toronto because of a flight cancellation.
Annoying, for sure. But fitting. The boys got to touch down in the country of the team they beat for the championship.
"I don't want to get on another plane for awhile," said pitcher Harrison Kuroda after finally arriving home. "I think our bags are in San Francisco, but I'm not sure."
Just another minor inconvenience they can easily shrug off. Nothing's going to bother these guys for a few days.
A throng of about 100 well-wishers from the Aiea community patiently waited over an hour while seemingly the entire Hawaii sports world paraded through the international arrival gate. First paddlers returning from the World Sprints in Australia. Then University of Hawaii basketball players Carl English and Phil Martin, who are from Canada. But no Aiea baseball players.
They were in customs. For 45 minutes.
Apparently, agents were checking to make sure the boys hadn't stuffed their carry-ons with contraband Canadian ham and illegal hockey pucks. But all these guys packed were sweet memories.
The 13-and-14 year-olds will never forget how they battled through two extra-inning games and a taut, 2-1, title win over Langley of British Columbia.
They'll always remember the aloha shown them throughout the trip, especially in Boise, Idaho, were the sizable expatriate Hawaii community came out in force to support them and feed them.
And they made believers of any doubters in their ability.
"The talk the whole time was Hawaii was the underdog," said Melvin Goo, whose son Justin was a key performer.
But Aiea swept through the series unbeaten. The team (whose roster and team photo is in today's online story) went 20-1 from its inception over a month ago, winning district, state, division and region tournaments before the World Series.
No complaints from the players of homesickness. Maybe a little rice withdrawal. Hey, it's a nearly perfect world when you get to play baseball instead of going to classes -- Aiea High, which seven of the players attend, is a year-round school that started classes Aug. 7.
Manager Richard Nagata said this is Aiea's first World Series championship at any Little League level -- this despite the community's strong baseball tradition.
"We've had teams that were combined with other areas win, but not only Aiea," said Nagata, who has coached youth baseball in the area for 27 years.
The victory was especially sweet for Nagata, since he took an Aiea team to the World Series in 1996 but finished second.
"Just a couple weeks ago they were a bunch of kids who had never been to the mainland," said Kimo Kaiuwailani, father of home-run hitting Chase. "Now they've been to Canada."
They're on top of the world, and they've seen a little bit of it
Now if they can just find their luggage.
Dave Reardon, who covered sports in Hawaii from 1977 to 1998,
moved to the the Gainesville Sun, then returned to
the Star-Bulletin in Jan. 2000.
E-mail dreardon@starbulletin.com