THE 17th in the list of Hometown Heroes traced for us by Cowdenbeath football history guru, David Allan, is the Venters family which produced some very good players for Cowden and the senior game in general.

Sandy Venters played for Cowdenbeath Athletic Juniors and Cowdenbeath FC in the early 1900s.

His brother, Pete Venters, was a leading local Marxist and secretary of the local NUM. Sandy Venters married Sarah Glancy (a member of another local footballing family) and their son Alex Venters was born in Stenhouse Street in 1913.

When Alex Venters left school, he took up employment with local printers Given & Paton. He played for South End Rovers and St Andrews United before Cowdenbeath signed him in 1930.

Venters quickly formed a profitable partnership with Jim Paterson, Cowden's Scottish international centre. Cowden managed to resist all overtures for Venters until season 1933/34.

Aly Venters produced a scintillating display in a game v St Johnstone in Perth, scoring a brilliant hat-trick to earn Cowdenbeath a point in a 3-3 draw. Venters was duly selected to represent Scotland v Ireland in September 1933. Hibs and Blackburn Rovers wanted him but Alex Venters elected to join Rangers for a fee of £2,000. After scoring 37 goals in 95 league games, Alex Venters left his home town at the age of 20 for Ibrox Park.

Aly possessed the traditional virtues of the Scottish inside-forward allied to an impressive physique. His aggression and undoubted talent saw him terrorise opposition defences.

He was at his peak in season 1938/39 when he was leading scorer in the 1st Division with 35 goals. Venters was only 26 when war broke out and had won 2 Scottish caps v England to add to the one gained with Cowdenbeath, 2 Scottish Cup winners medals and 3 League championships with Rangers as well as several League caps. His Wartime haul of honours was even more impressive and included 4 wartime championships and 4 Southern League Cup wins. He also made 3 further appearances in the dark blue of Scotland.

After the War ended, in February 1946, it seemed Alex was returning to Central Park. Indeed, the Cowdenbeath Advertiser published a headline ‘Venters Returns to Cowdenbeath’ only a week later to print ‘Venters doesn’t Return to Cowdenbeath’. He had had a better offer at the last minute from Third Lanark. He had scored 207 goals in 420 games for Rangers. A year later, Alex left Cathkin and joined Blackburn Rovers for a £1,000 fee. Later he had a spell with Raith Rovers before retiring in 1948.

For a time he followed the traditional ex-player's route as mine host at the Railway Tavern, at Buckhaven. Prior to that he had owned a shop in Gray Park which was run by his mother as the Venters family were domiciled there for a number of years.

Later, he returned to his original trade in the printing industry as a linotype operator in the Edinburgh office of the Scottish Daily Mail. In April 1959, Alex Venters was preparing to leave his home in Park Street for night duty on the paper when he collapsed and died from a sudden heart attack.

Alex’s older brother John (Jock) Venters played as an inside forward for Nottingham Forest, Preston, Morton and abroad with Young Boys of Berne. He died in Cowdenbeath in 1978 aged 68.

John and Alex also had a younger brother, Andrew Venters, who at one time was provisionally signed by Cowdenbeath. Andrew played for Auchtertool and then junior with Cowdenbeath side Kirkford Juniors (alongside his brother John) and Bowhill Rovers.

Just before the war he joined the then English League side New Brighton from the Fife junior club Newburgh. Alex Venters' memory was perpetuated in Cowdenbeath some years back when the playing field at Park Street was renamed the 'Alex Venters Memorial Park'. Alex’s wife Helen, a talented musician, lived in Cowdenbeath until her death in 2007 and one of Alex’s daughters, Janis, is married to Jock Finlayson, of Hill of Beath Hawthorn renown.