'EWA BEACH — All along the 3-mile "Heroes' Homecoming" parade route yesterday, thousands scrambled for position in the heat.

They stood on balconies and sat on car tops. Some found shade, others made their own with umbrellas. Most simply braved the sun and humidity to let the team know how proud they were.

"I'd say this is the biggest thing that's ever happened in 'Ewa Beach," said Eileen Lynn, secretary of the 'Ewa Beach Community Association.

"Last year the principal of the Campbell High School, Gail Awakuni, was named the best principal in the nation. That would be second. This outdoes it. I mean — World Champs!"

Any parade in 'Ewa Beach is a cause for celebration. But when the celebration is in honor of the hometown West O'ahu 2005 Little League World Series champions, it's a cause for something that's been in short supply in this neck of O'ahu — a dusty former plantation community that lies along the flight path for Honolulu International Airport.

That special something is genuine, old-fashioned pride.

Before the whole world watched 12-year-old Michael Memea blast the game-winning homer in Williamsport, Pa., on Aug. 29, most folks had never heard of 'Ewa Beach. And if they had, chances are what they heard wasn't so good.

Old stereotypes included bad kids, drugs, too much traffic, junked cars, loud overhead planes, and descriptions of the place being "O'ahu's desert" or "the ultimate cul-de-sac."

But in one magic moment, all that changed. Before the team became champs, the slogan "'Ewa Pride" could be a hard sell in a community that's part old plantation town, part military population and part bedroom community.

Now, people here have pride — real pride — in spades.

"We da best!" shouted 'Ilima Intermediate School eighth-grader Braun Thompson, 14, as he scuffled along Papipi Road with his pals Sy Delizo, 12, Shaun Ahlo,14, and Nick Dano, 15.

"I can wear my 'Ewa Beach T-shirt anywhere," crowed Delizo.

'Ewa Beach resident John Oliveira, who watched the parade from the corner of Fort Weaver Road and Kuhina Street, put it this way: "You no longer have to compare 'Ewa Beach with any place else. This is it!"

Rep. Kymberly Pine, R-43rd ('Ewa Beach, West Loch), is only one of many who say winning the Little League world championship has become the defining event for 'Ewa Beach.

"Every community has that moment when it changes. And this was it," she said. "Whatever labels we've had in the past, none of that matters."

Before the parade, third baseman and pitcher Vonn "The Stare" Fe'ao had said: "I don't feel famous. I'm still the same guy."

Lina Sarusal, 13, an 'Ilima Intermediate eighth-grader, might agree with the first part, but not quite the second.

"Before, he used to be such a troublemaker," she said, referring to Fe'ao's classroom disruptions. "I think because of this ballgame and now that he's recognized, he's changing. "Now, he doesn't want to be known for bad things."

Eleanor Mamaclay, swing shift manager at McDonald's at 'Ewa Beach Shopping Center, a local gathering place that's decked out like a 1950s diner, passed out fliers yesterday for a team fundraiser.

"Nothing so big has ever happened here," she said. "And now that it has, it's like everybody saying, 'Yeah, I live in 'Ewa Beach,' or 'I know that kid,' and all that kind of stuff."

"The Little League put 'Ewa Beach on the map!" exclaimed Auntie Jane Kihewa, 63, a youth specialist at the Boys & Girls Club, where they held a party in the parking lot after the parade. "When I was a kid here, before the 1946 tidal wave, there was nothing but kiawe trees and coral roads. We were living in tents."

Auntie Arline Eaton, 78, remembers 'Ewa Beach from a time when a tent would have seemed high tech. She grew with her grandparents in a grass hut on the 'Ewa plain.

"These children have done something not only for our community, but for the whole United States," said Eaton, a kupuna who teaches Hawaiian studies at Iroquois Point Elementary School.

"Oh, yes, this is a turning point. This is positive."

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.