College Football Hall of Famer, ex-Central, Alabama star Woodrow Lowe dies. Funeral set
College Football Hall of Famer Woodrow Lowe, a former Central-Phenix City High School star, has died.
Lowe, brother of Phenix City Mayor Eddie Lowe, died Thursday at home in Collierville, Tennessee, while receiving hospice care, Central football historian Mark Clark told the Ledger-Enquirer. He was 71.
Clark, managing editor and sports editor for The Citizen of East Alabama, who has documented Central football for more than 50 years, considers Lowe to be the best player in the program’s history.
According to his obituary on the Taylor Funeral Home website, the funeral will be at noon Nov. 14 in Franchise Missionary Baptist Church, 1000 Dillingham St., in Phenix City. Burial will follow at Green Acres Cemetery, 1485 Schatulga Road, in Columbus.
The website for the College Football Hall of Fame, which inducted him in 2009, documents Lowe’s greatness:
Woodrow Lowe’s playing career
As a 6-foot, 227-pound linebacker, Lowe was the second player in Alabama history to be a three-time first-team All-America (1973-75). He led the Crimson Tide to undefeated regular seasons in 1973 and 1974.
In 1973, Lowe set an Alabama single-season record with 134 tackles as a sophomore. During his junior year, he earned consensus All-America honors and led the Crimson Tide to a third straight SEC title. In his final season, he again earned first-team All America honors and served as team captain as the Crimson Tide wrapped up their fourth straight SEC title.
Lowe left the Tide ranked as the program’s third all-time leader in tackles with 315 in his career.
The San Diego Chargers drafted Lowe in the fifth round of the 1976 NFL draft. He missed only one game in 11 seasons with the Chargers, made 21 interceptions and returned four of them for touchdowns.
With the Chargers, Lowe was a team captain and earned All-AFC honors from the UPI and a Pro Bowl selection in 1981. He was selected for the Chargers’ 40th Anniversary All-Time Team in 2000.
Lowe was named to Alabama’s First Team All-Decade Team and a Second Team All-Century selection. He was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Chattahoochee Valley Sports Hall of Fame in 1998.
Clark recalled what it was like to watch Lowe dominate football games while playing for Central.
“He’d line up on one side and make the tackle on the other side,” Clark said.
As ferocious as he was on the field, Clark said, Lowe was “just about the kindest person I’ve ever known. He was a tough player and a tough coach. But once he got off the field, he was mild-mannered and just so humble.”
Woodrow Lowe’s coaching career
Lowe spent six years in the NFL as a defensive assistant coach for the Oakland Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs. He returned to Central as an assistant under head coach Wayne Trawick and helped the Red Devils win a state championship in 1993.
In two seasons (1994-95) as head football coach at Selma High School, Lowe went 10-10. After spending five years as an assistant coach at UAB, Lowe again returned to the high school ranks, this time as head coach at Central rival Smiths Station. The Panthers went 12-19 in Lowe’s three seasons (2005-07) with Smiths Station.
After serving as an assistant coach at Jackson-Olin High School in Birmingham, Lowe returned to his alma mater as Central’s head coach in December 2009.
The Red Devils went 33-13 in four seasons (2010-13) under Lowe, including an appearance in the 2011 state semifinals. But after they went 6-4 in 2013 and missed the playoffs, Lowe was removed as head coach.
Phenix City Mayor Eddie Lowe on his brother Woodrow Lowe
Mayor Lowe idolized Woodrow, his older brother by six years, as a hero while growing up playing sandlot football with other Central stars, such as Jeremiah Castille and Billy Jackson.
“He had a lot of athleticism, and he was probably better than any of us,” Mayor Lowe, who also played linebacker at Alabama (1980-82) and for nine years in the Canadian Football League with Saskatchewan, told the L-E. “But he just didn’t have the desire to play football and go far. He cared about people.”
Mayor Lowe said he wouldn’t dispute Clark’s assessment of his brother being the best football player in Central’s history.
“I just know he prepared himself,” Mayor Lowe said. “He was dedicated to it. … He had a lot of values and morals and integrity and put the work ethic. That was with everything he did but particularly in football. He was just a good person. He never, ever, did anything deliberately to hurt anyone.”
This story was originally published November 6, 2025 at 10:34 AM.
