In the eight years I have been at the Rapid City Journal, the qualification of the Canyon Lake all-star team into the Little League World Series is the biggest sports story I've seen.

You can take your state title runs, your dodging of national record losing streaks, semi-pro madness and wrap it all together, and it doesn't measure up to this.

There is something inherently fascinating about a bunch of boys playing the national pastime that is so seriously enthralling. And it's just this age group, which is basically a bunch of 12 year olds.

No younger. No older. Just these kids, playing the game before the politics, before the scouts, before all of the things that distract players and fans alike from the true heart of the game.

Of course, it isn't like those who do make the big stage disappear forever. In fact, there are a number of relatively famous folks who credit their Little League experiences - and those in the L.L. World Series - for their successes later in life.

Here's a handful of some of the better known Little Leaguers to have gone on to bigger things, or who made a name known to millions of Americans.

Chris Drury

Long before he became one of the best clutch players in the NNHL, before he won a Stanley Cup championship or a Hobey Baker Award for being the best player in collegiate hockey, Drury was known for knocking off a powerhouse team from Taiwan as the winning pitcher on the Trumbull, Conn., baseball team in the 1989 Little League World Series championship.

Only a broken wrist prevented the likely future major league baseball star from diverting his path to go on to become an all-star on the ice of the National Hockey League.

George W. Bush

The president may not have been good enough to lead his team to the Little League World Series, but he became one of the most important figures ever to appear at the event.

Bush, whose past involvement in the national pastime extended into his adult years as the general manager of the Texas Rangers before he went on to a career in politics, wasn't a complete dud as a Little Leaguer, though. At least not according to his father, former President George H.W. Bush.

"Georgie aggravates me at times," the elder Mr. Bush wrote to his father-in-law. "I am sure that I do the same to him. But then at times I am so proud of him I could die. He is out for Little League, so eager. He tries so very hard. He has good fast hands and even seems to be able to hit a little."

Kevin Costner

Like President Bush, actor Kevin Costner played Little League, and like the president, his team never made it to the Little League World Series.

However, the popular actor and film maker was inducted into the Little League Hall of Excellence Enshrinement, largely for his work on baseball movies such as "Field of Dreams." Other diamond classics in Costner's catalogue include "Bull Durham" and "For Love of the Game."

Costner, who was a star pitcher for his Ventura, Calif., Little League team, credited his lessons learned in Little League baseball - at least partly - for his success on the silver screen.

"I think of the situations I was in, how you handle a win or a loss, how you handle it when an umpire doesn't seem to be helping you out," Costner said. "You learn how to depend on teammates, because even on no-hitters there's someone behind you making a play.

"Once you learn your place on the team, did you give it your best shot? I'm a film-maker and an actor. I know that hits aren't going to happen every time and that people are going to argue every choice you make. But I honestly believe I've given it my best shot."

Danny Almonte

Whereas the aforementioned have gone on to become stars in their respective professions, Danny Almonte is just as much infamous as he was famous.

When the phenom led his New York team, nicknamed the "Baby Bombers" because they played near Yankee Stadium, to the Little League World Series, fans from near and far fawned over his pitching prowess and his 70 mph fastball.

However, after falling in the semi-finals of the Series, Almonte's fame quickly turned to trouble as it was revealed that his birth certificate had been forged and that he was actually 14, two years older than rules allowed.

His name lives on in Little League infamy. And today, Almonte pitches for the Western Oklahoma State College, a nationally ranked junior college.

Brian Sipe

Before becoming the 1980 National League Football MVP and the quarterback in the running for the most ever tortured by the Denver Broncos, Sipe was a member of the 1961 Little League World champion team from El Cajon, Calif.

Sipe, whose career in the NFL and USFL certainly brought a decent number of accolades, pinpoints his success in collegiate and professional sports back to his experience in Little League baseball.

After winning the Little Leage World Series, Sipe said, "Not much else sort of surprised me in sports. I sort of expected to succeed. And I trace it all back to Little League."