Boaz Myhill felt right at home on the US tour

He is known as a Welsh international, but Myhill was born in Calfornia. And even fewer know the astonishing story of his birth.

Alongside Star Wars director George Lucas, nine-time Olympic gold medallist swimmer Mark Spitz and winemakers Ernest and Julio Gallo, Myhill is ranked by Wikipedia among those 'notable people' to come from the small town of Modesto.

And during this week's trip back to his 'home' state of California on the pre-season tour to Sacramento, the club's number two keeper recalled the story of how that came to pass one day in November 1982.

He said: "Mum and dad were living over here at the time, and aunty and uncle were over here on holiday.

"They were actually in Yosemite showing them around, and I ended up being six weeks premature.

"I was airlifted to the hospital from there and that's it. I stayed long enough until I was old enough to fly, about six weeks."

Real name Glyn, six foot three inch Boaz Myhill knows The Golden State very well, his father Sean being American, and has even waterskied down the Sacramento River on a family holiday, 68 miles north of the town where he was born.

But he moved to Wales soon after his birth, and chose to play for the country of his mother Christine's origin, going on to make 19 appearances between 2009 and 2013.

However in May, the 31-year-old announced his retirement from international football.

He found himself too regularly playing second-string to former Wolves shot stopper Wayne Hennessey, and revealed he has no intention of pulling on the Wales shirt again.

He said: "I've had some good times, but for now I've got a young family that I want to enjoy.

"I had a chat with Chris Coleman (the Wales manager) and it just got to the stage where I wasn't enjoying myself, and in life you need to be happy."

That means he will not be following in the footsteps of Albion first-choice keeper Ben Foster, who retired from international briefly before making a triumphant return to England last year, resulting in him becoming the first Albion player for 44 years to play in a World Cup – since Jeff Astle at Mexico 1970 – when he served a full 90 minutes in the goalless draw with Costa Rica.

Myhill is full of praise for Foster, and is delighted that his friend has just signed up to Albion for another four years.

He said: "It's brilliant. It's a real statement of intent from the club, and it's a great signing for Ben as well because in my opinion he really deserved it.

"He played a massive part in keeping us in the league last year when it wasn't nice, when it wasn't easy to turn up and play, so it's well deserved.

Myhill, who signed for Albion in 2010 but spent the 2011-12 season on loan at neighbours Birmingham City, added: "My role is that I play when I need to play, I need to make sure that I'm ready.

"I enjoy seeing some of the things that Ben does on a day-to-day basis – it's scary.

"It's good to watch and it can only make me a better player, and I still believe that I'm a better keeper here now than I was when I came."