The Fabulous Five, the 1980 College World Series Rainbows, the championship Rainbow Wahine volleyball teams ...

Now, make room, please, for the West O'ahu Little Leaguers, 2005 Little League World Series Champions, in the pantheon of Hawai'i legends. They have, indeed, earned it.

Few sports teams have been so successful, their accomplishments so compelling as to leap the boundaries of their sport into becoming a statewide phenomena. But this beyond-amazing band of 11- and 12-year olds, largely unknown before they hit South Williamsport, Pa., a week earlier in August, has transcended not only age but sport to claim a place in the heart of the entire state.

Remarkable enough was what they accomplished on their trek from the state championships and on through the regionals in San Bernardino, Calif., just to get to the World Series. But in winning the Little League World Series, a 16-team competition of global scope, they stamped themselves as special in a manner of few teams before them.

Not since 1988, when Pearl City got to the championship game, had a Hawai'i team gone as far in the grand daddy of all the youth league baseball tournaments.

Winning the title was but part of their amazing tale to be sure. How they pulled it off is where we find the true measure of this team, and what captured the imagination of not only the home state but thousands who followed their story on national television.

They exhibited a resilience, strength of character and sportsmanship that was noteworthy at any age, let alone of so many of such tender youth. How often have we seen college teams composed of players twice the Little Leaguers' ages, or pro clubs three times their life span, fold under similar pressure?

Yet, when faced with adversity at several crossroads, they were not deterred. When confronted with a setback not of their making, they persevered. And when challenged time and again by Curacao, the defending world champion, they responded. While much was made of Curacao's experience in the caldron of world series pressure, West O'ahu had both poise and pitching in ample supply. Two elements that carried the day.

Letting opportunity slip away in the first inning, when they left the bases loaded after no outs, could have been an omen, a bad one. But West O'ahu would let it be, coming back for a run in the second inning.

And when Curacao topped that with a three-run third built on a controversial call where the plate umpire ruled a player safe while replays showed him to have been out, we got our first glimpse of what makes a champion.

Not only did the coaches not point fingers at the umpire, they remarkably did not come untracked. Think how many times in high school, college or the pros we've seen a game suddenly swing on a team's inability to cope with a bad call.

But taking a refreshing cue from their coach, Layton Aliviado, the players came back in the bottom of the third inning to match Curacao at 3-all with back-to-back homers by Myron "Kini" Enos Jr. and Alaka'i Aglipay as exclamation points.

Right there, in that, they not only opened our eyes, they won our enduring respect and admiration no matter what the eventual outcome.

Again, after Curacao splashed a three-run fifth inning, the team from the 'Ewa plain had an opportunity to exit quietly but would not. Unruffled by a one-two-three fifth inning of their own, West O'ahu rallied to tie it at 6-all in the sixth and force the first extra innings finale since 1971.

It would be left to laser-eyed relief pitcher Vonn Fe'ao, he of the speeding-bullet fastball, to shut the door on Curacao and open one for Michael Memea.

Then, in dramatic fashion becoming of this team, Memea, staring full-count pressure in the eye, walloped a home run over center to send West O'ahu home as champions — and a lot more.

For all of that, this is a team that has earned its place in history and our hearts.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com.