Eddie Lowe (born January 1, 1960) is a former linebacker who played nine seasons in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

for the

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 1 ...

. He was recruited in from the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...

. Eddie Lowe is currently

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Phenix City, Alabama Phenix City is a city in Lee and Russell counties in the U.S. state of Alabama, and the county seat of Russell County. As of the 2020 Census, the population of the city was 38,817. Phenix City lies immediately west across the Chattahoochee R ...

. He is the first black mayor of Phenix City.

Football career

Lowe played

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

at Central High School in Phenix City. He attended the

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UT-Chattanooga, UTC, or Chattanooga) is a public university in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. It was founded in 1886 and is one of four universities and two other affiliated institutions in the ...

for a year before transferring to the

, where he played for the

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...

as a

walk-on Walk On may refer to: Music * ''Walk On'', a 1994 album by Boston, and its title song Albums * ''Walk On'' (Boston album), 1994 * ''Walk On'' (John Hiatt album), 1995 * ''Walk On'' (Randy Johnston album), 1992 *''Walk On'', a 2007 album by ...

. His older brother,

Woodrow Lowe Woodrow Lowe (born June 9, 1954), is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker from 1976 to 1986 for the San Diego Chargers in the National Football League (NFL). Lowe played college football for the Alabama Crims ...

, also played at Central and Alabama, before going on to a career in the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

. At 5' 10", Eddie was considered too small to play in the NFL, but he was recruited to play

Canadian football Canadian football () is a team sport, sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's sco ...

with the

. In 1989, he won the

77th Grey Cup The 77th Grey Cup was the 1989 Canadian Football League championship game played between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at SkyDome in Toronto; this was the first Grey Cup game held at the stadium as it opened in June 19 ...

with Saskatchewan and was named a CFL all-star. After the

1991 CFL season The 1991 CFL season is considered to be the 38th season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 34th Canadian Football League season. CFL News in 1991 Harry Ornest sold the Toronto Argonauts to Bruce McNall, Wayne Gretzky ...

, he retired from football. From 1992 until at least 2012, Lowe volunteered as an assistant to his brother Woodrow, coaching football at their alma mater of Central High School.

Political career

After retiring from football, Lowe began working as a banker. Prior to his election as mayor, Lowe served as president of the Phenix City Board of Education for a decade. In 2012, he was elected the first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

mayor of Phenix City with 64 percent of the votes cast. He beat three opponents in the race, by a large enough margin to avoid a

runoff election The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian resul ...

Personal life

Lowe is married with three children. His brothers include

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

member

and James Lowe, Jr.

References

External links

Phenix City Mayor's OfficeEddie Lowe
at

Project Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in si ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowe, Eddie 1960 births African-American mayors in Alabama African-American players of American football African-American players of Canadian football Alabama Crimson Tide football players American athlete-politicians American football linebackers American players of Canadian football Canadian football linebackers Living people Mayors of places in Alabama Sportspeople from Columbus, Georgia People from Phenix City, Alabama Players of American football from Alabama Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) Saskatchewan Roughriders players University of Tennessee at Chattanooga alumni 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople