The Raycom Media Camellia Bowl honors its annual Alabama Football Legend Award recipient at a luncheon the day before the game, but former All-American linebacker Woodrow Lowe wasn\u2019t sure why he had been selected.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am truly honored,\u201d Lowe said before spending a lot of time telling why he didn\u2019t deserve the award. \u201cFrom a humble heart and with heartfelt appreciation, gratitude, I say thanks to the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lowe is one of three players from this state to ever earn All-America honors three times, joining Auburn center Walter Gilbert (1934-36) and Alabama linebacker Cornelius Bennett (1984-86). Lowe set the standard as a sophomore in 1973 with 134 tackles, a school record that remains to this day.<\/p>\n
His 315 career tackles from 1972-75 was a school record that was unmatched at the time and is currently fourth behind Wayne Davis (1983-86), Thomas Boyd (1979-82) and C.J. Mosley (2010-13). Lowe played on three Southeastern Conference championship teams and one national champion (1973) and played 11 seasons in the National Football League with the San Diego Chargers.<\/p>\n
The Alabama Football Legend Award, presented by Regions, went to Birmingham native and former Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden in 2014 and former Auburn coach Pat Dye in 2015.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had an opportunity to meet Coach Bowden,\u201d Lowe said, \u201cand I was so submissive, just getting a chance to shake his hand. And, of course, Coach Dye recruited me and he coached me at Alabama. That\u2019s my coach. These awards, we\u2019ve gotten a lot of them but football isn\u2019t about who I am, it\u2019s just what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n
After retiring from the NFL, Lowe got into coaching at the high school, collegiate and professional ranks, most notably with his alma mater, Central High in Phenix City. He retired last year from Jackson State.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn recruiting, you always judge a young man when they shake your hard,\u201d Toledo coach Jason Candle said. \u201cI shook Woodrow\u2019s hand last night and he almost took my arm off. I know this guy was real when he played football.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lowe was one of the best linebackers to ever play for Paul \u201cBear\u201d Bryant and spent much of his time at the Friday luncheon using Bryant-isms as a teaching moment for the Toledo and Appalachian State players.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lessons of discipline, sacrifice, hard work, team work, fighting to achieve, aren\u2019t being taught by many people other than coaches,\u201d Lowe said, reading a Bryant quote from his final years as Alabama\u2019s coach before retiring in 1982.<\/p>\n
\u201cA football coach has a captive audience and can teach these lessons because the communication lines between himself and his players are more open than between kids and parents. We\u2019d better teach these lessons or else the country\u2019s future population will be made up of a majority of crooks, drug addicts or people on relief.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was surely ahead of his time as far as the game and with people,\u201d Lowe concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Raycom Media Camellia Bowl honors its annual Alabama Football Legend Award recipient at a luncheon the day before the game, but former All-American linebacker Woodrow Lowe wasn\u2019t sure why he had been selected. \u201cI am truly honored,\u201d Lowe said before spending a lot of time telling why he didn\u2019t deserve the award. \u201cFrom a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n