Keanon Lowe is an American athletics coach and former football player for the

Oregon Ducks The Oregon Ducks are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Oregon, located in Eugene. The Ducks compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac-12 Conferenc ...

. He is known for preventing the suicide of a student by disarming the student and then hugging them, which was caught on security footage.

Early life and education

Lowe grew up in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

in the suburb of Gresham. He was the second child of Jennifer Lowe and Kevin Lowe, who would move out when Lowe was nine, later divorcing. Lowe would teach his younger brother, Trey, things like riding a bike and sports, saying that he felt responsible for Trey as he remained by Jennifer's side during Trey's birth. Jennifer Lowe worked as an accountant to help pay for Lowe's tuition at Jesuit High School where he played football.

Football career

In 2010, Lowe signed onto the

as a

student athlete A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementar ...

. After playing wide receiver for the team, he tried out for the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

, but did not get picked. He then went to work in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

as an analyst for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

and later as an offensive analyst for the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

Post-football career

After about a year working as an assistant football coach at Jesuit High, he moved to

Parkrose High School Parkrose High School is a public high school in Portland, Oregon, United States. It is the only high school in the Parkrose School District. Academics In 2008, 72% of the school's seniors received a high school diploma. Of 231 students, 167 gradua ...

and became the head coach for both football and track and field. In January 2020, Lowe was named the head football coach at

West Linn High School West Linn High School is a public high school in West Linn, Oregon, United States. It is one of two high schools in the West Linn-Wilsonville School District, the other being Wilsonville High School. Academics In 1984, West Linn High School was ho ...

, taking over from Chris Miller. He later resigned in June to join

Chip Kelly Charles Edward Kelly (born November 25, 1963) is an American football coach who is the head coach of the UCLA Bruins. He came to prominence as the head coach of the Oregon Ducks from 2009 to 2012, whom he led to four consecutive BCS bowl game a ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, becoming a football offensive analyst for the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). ...

. In February 2021, Lowe left UCLA to join

Scott Frost Scott Andrew Frost (born January 4, 1975) is a former American football coach and player. He was the head football coach at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln from 2018 to 2022. Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, Frost played college football as a qu ...

University of Nebraska–Lincoln The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a public land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the Morrill Act of 1862, the school was known as the Universit ...

, serving as an offense analyst for the

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference, and the Cornhuskers compete in NCAA Divis ...

. College GameDay aired a special about Lowe on their program.

2019 Parkrose High incident

On May 17, 2019, 18-year-old student Angel Granados Dias entered

wearing a black trench coat and carrying a

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small p ...

loaded with a single shell, intending to commit suicide in front of classmates. Lowe was sent to retrieve Dias to bring him to the counselor's office and was looking for him in the morning. After Dias walked into the same classroom that Lowe was in, Lowe grabbed the shotgun and gave it to a faculty member to keep it away from Dias, then embraced Dias. The incident was captured on security footage and Lowe was hailed as a hero for his actions in preventing a school shooting. Because of his actions, he received the

Congressional Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. Th ...

Citizen Honor on March 31, 2020.

Movie

On December 10, 2020,

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

announced that they were making a movie about Lowe produced by

Seven Bucks Productions Seven Bucks Productions is a production company involved with various platforms and mediums, credited with creating original releases for television, film, emerging technologies, and digital networks. The studio was co-created and founded by Dwa ...

, currently known only as ''The Keanon Lowe project''. As of September 2022, no release date has been announced.

Book

Lowe is the author of Hometown Victory, published by Macmillan in 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowe, Keanon Oregon Ducks football players Jesuit High School (Beaverton, Oregon) alumni University of Oregon alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Living people