By Nick Georgandis

On April 15, the world will ponder the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titantic, while James Cameron lines his pockets with a few more million dollars from the re-release of his 1997 film, this time in 3-D. ("I’ll never let go, Jack! Not in width, length or depth!")

Amazingly, not one but two future members of the Tennis Hall of Fame both boarded and survived the Titanic’s early demise. Their stories are now being told in a novel by Lindsay Gibbs called “Titanic: The Tennis Story.”

One of the men, Karl Behr, went on board the Titanic in pursuit of a woman named Helen Newsom, whose parents weren’t so crazy about him, but significantly warmed up after he rowed them to safety in a lifeboat.

Behr had played for the United States’ Davis Cup squad in 1907 and lost the Wimbledon men’s doubles crown that same year.

Behr was 27 years old at the time of the ship’s sinking, and after marrying Newsom in 1913, he started playing tennis again, making the 1914 Davis Cup squad and defeating the man hailed as the world’s greatest player -- Maurice McLoughlin -- in a match in 1915.

Behr, a man of many refinements, was also a lawyer, although he eventually settled on banking, eventually becoming the vide president of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company.

He died in 1949 and was posthumously named to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1969.

Fellow American Richard Norris Williams II was living in Europe, boarding the ship with his father in preparation to begin his college career -- both academic and athletic -- at Harvard.

After the ship struck the iceberg, the father and son were about to jump into the water when one of the ship’s giant steam funnels broke off, crushing Williams’ father underneath.

The son jumped into the water alone and hung on to a lifeboat for hours. By the time he was rescued by another ship, he could no longer feel his legs, nor could he initially walk or stand.

With the threat of having his legs amputated inciting fear in him, Williams forced himself to stand and walk around the deck of the ship -- the RMS Carpathia -- for hours on end, a course of action that eventually saved his legs.

He went on to play at Harvard, and won the Olympic gold in mixed doubles in 1912, just months after the Titanic sank.

He went on to win the US Championships in 1914 and 1916 and the doubles crown in 1921, 1923 and 1927. He added a title in doubles at Wimbledon in 1920.

He also won the mixed doubles gold medal again in 1924 and played alongside fellow survivor Behr on the US Davis Cup squad.

Williams was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1957 and passed away in 1968.