At the Olympic games in Paris in 1924 the sport of canoe racing was added to the list of international competitions. The favorite team in the four-man canoe race was the United States team. One member of that team was a young man by the name of Bill Havens.

As the time for the Olympics neared, it became clear that Bill's wife would give birth to her first child about the time that Bill would be competing in the Paris Games. In 1924 there were no jet airliners from Paris to the United States, only slow-moving ocean-going ships.  And so Bill found himself in a dilemma. Should he go to Paris and risk not being at his wife's side when their first child was born?  Or should he withdraw from the team and remain behind. Bill's wife insisted that he go to Paris. After all, he had been working tow…