Twenty-four years of pent-up Penguins failure and futility were purged late Saturday and early Sunday with widespread Stanley Cup victory celebrations in cars and bars, on city and suburban streets and at Greater Pittsburgh International Airport, where an estimated 20,000 delirious fans welcomed home their heroes.

Between 20,000 and 25,000 motorists and pedestrians jammed Liberty Avenue, Downtown, and Smithfield and East Carson streets, South Side, in a spontaneous celebration that took until 2 a.m. to clear, said City Police Chief Mayer DeRoy.

The scene throughout the region -- horns blaring, fans dancing in the streets and on cars, strangers greeting strangers as friends -- began when the game ended shortly before 11 p.m. Saturday and continued until the last of the revelers left the airport as dawn broke yesterday.

"You had to be there to believe it," said Terri Brough, 27, of North Huntingdon, at 4:30 a.m. as she and five friends waited for traffic to move in the airport parking lot following the largest welcome home celebration ever at the facility.

"It was a very, very excited crowd, really proud of the team. It was the most enthusiastic reception I've witnessed," said Allegheny County police Sgt. Burt Cifrulak, who noted he was at the airport for the return of the Steelers' Super Bowl and the Pirates' World Series teams in the 1970s.

"We do want to compliment the vast majority of people because, for as enthusiastic as they were, they were very well behaved. We did have problems with a minority, and we did our best to take those people out," Cifrulak said.

"The power of a crowd can be very frightening . . . . I can't tell you how many positive comments we received about our ability to contain the crowd."

Cifrulak said the official estimate of 20,000 people was conservative and the number of fans at the airport could have been much higher.

"Literally thousands never got here," he said.

The influx of fans created a massive traffic jam on the Parkway that stretched from the airport to the Robinson Town Centre. Some fans abandoned their cars along the side of the road and hiked to the celebration.

The airport festivities were marred by the death of Melvin Babilon, 35, of Ben Avon. Police said he fell 21 feet to his death through a large, outside ventilation space near the airport's main entrance and onto the lower level drive near the county police station.

Police said it appeared Babilon was on top of a concrete wall around the opening when he fell.

"Public safety was of a paramount concern," Cifrulak said. "We made every effort to try to keep persons in [safe] positions."

Seventy-five county policemen -- some held over from shifts or called out to work -- made 18 arrests at the airport, mostly for disorderly conduct and public intoxication, Cifrulak said. About 20 celebrants at the airport were treated for ailments and injuries ranging from dizziness due to the sweltering heat inside to a broken wrist, officials said.

DeRoy said no arrests were made in the city and there were no injuries.

"Basically, our problem was huge traffic jams on Liberty Avenue, Smithfield Street and near the Hilton Hotel," DeRoy said.

DeRoy said many people jumped out of their cars in the traffic jams and began to dance and shake hands but were sent back to their vehicles by police.

State police reported several arrests for disorderly conduct on the Parkway and a few minor accidents.

I want to see the champs

"Come on, let's go," Carl Cigana, 35, of Jefferson Borough, said to his son, Brandon, 9, on Saturday night.

The Penguins had just scored, making the score 2-0 in the first period.

It was about 8:20 p.m., and the game was a little more than 12 minutes old. They headed for the airport to welcome home their team, which wouldn't arrive for seven more hours.

"I told [Brandon] if they're doing a good job in the first period we're going to go," said Cigana, who along with his son was the first of the revelers to arrive at the airport.

"We got here and no one was here. We didn't know what gate they were coming in. I asked a policeman and we just sat and waited," Cigana said.

At about 3 a.m., Brandon said he had been a little tired but as the projected 3:30 a.m. arrival time approached, he was rejuvenated.

"I wanted to see the Stanley Cup champions," Brandon said.

So did thousands of others who followed the Ciganas to the airport. They came from the city and suburbs, from Beaver, Washington and Westmoreland counties, from bars and parties.

They stood near the beginning of a 100-yard-long corridor leading from Gate 45 in the airport's west wing to the lobby. Police had placed metal barriers and ropes to keep the crowd back from a 3-foot-wide walkway for the players.

At midnight, the crowd stood three deep at the barriers. Within an hour it had doubled. A half hour later, they were 10 deep, shoulder-to-shoulder in the sweltering temperature created by body heat. Humidity fogged shop display windows along the hallway.

Thousands more gathered at the airport's main entrance and in the rotunda, while others staked out territory on the airport's bottom level.

And they just kept coming. Even at about 2:30 a.m., the walkways leading to the airport resembled Downtown at lunchtime -- but with everyone walking in one direction.

Let's go Pens!

They conquered, they came, they saw.

And what the Penguins witnessed when they walked out of Gate 45 was a surreal scene that seemed to stupefy many of them.

The plane carrying the team and some of their family members arrived at 3:30 a.m. Four minutes later, the Penguins' theme song, used in commercials and promotions, was played over airport speakers.

Any delusions that the crowd would have burned itself out by the wait were quickly dispatched.

"Let's go, Pens! Let's go, Pens!" they screamed.

"We won the Cup! We won the Cup!" they chanted.

At 3:39 a.m., a smiling Mario Lemieux, escorted by Walter J. "Corky" Alberts, assistant county police superintendent, and county police officers, walked through the doors to Gate 45, which is at a right angle to the corridor leading to the lobby. As he turned the corner, the roar of the crowd was like that of a jet engine.

Lemieux was hustled the 100 yards toward the lobby as fans screamed, reached out to touch him, waved placards and snapped pictures. Some women cried. Police strained to keep the crowd back as Lemieux was taken down steps to the lower level where the team boarded buses.

Many of the players were expressionless, seemingly either exhausted or awed by the size and intensity of the crowd. Others, however, slapped hands and waved to the crowd as they were hustled by police toward the buses.

And then they were gone. But as the buses wended their way toward the Parkway, fans gathered around them and players hung out of the windows to accept thanks and congratulations.

Afterward, Bobby Miller, 18, of Brookline said that the cast on his broken ankle -- decorated in black and gold, of course, -- couldn't have kept him away from the celebration.

Leslie Scott, 26, of North Huntingdon said the long night was worth all the hassles. She and four friends were sitting in her convertible in the airport parking lot -- which wouldn't begin to empty for another 45 minutes.

"We got to touch them," Scott said as her friends Lisa Gagliardi, 27, and Kara Highberger, 18, echoed her comments, each excitedly naming their favorite Pen.

"We left our husbands at home," Scott said. "We were all watching the game together and they didn't want to come. They said it would be too crowded. We said, 'We're going.' "