The youngest Spence brother, Harold, showed great promise but was killed in action in World War II before his swimming career could take off.

[1] After becoming the top swimmer in British Guiana, Walter Spence moved to Trinidad and began competing there.

After losing a freestyle race to a swimmer from Chicago, his first-ever loss in that type of competition, Spence decided to pursue training in the United States.

By 1925 he had broken ten world records and was the top point scorer at the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) national championships that year.

[1] The brothers competed for the NYAC[2] in the three-stroke medley relay, with Wallace swimming the backstroke, Leonard the breaststroke, and Walter the front crawl.

He was on his way from New York City to his home in Hawthorne and had stepped off the train to call his wife during a stop at White Plains.

[2] Nine years after his death, in 1967, Walter, Wallace, and Leonard Spence were inducted together into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.